Stockport Liberal Democrats are demanding Stepping Hill hospital scrap proposals to double the cost of staff parking permits. Under the scheme being considered by the hospital, some nurses would see the permit price increase from almost £300 to closer to £600 a year, a 90% increase.

Staff facing this sort of increase would have the choice of either paying what is effectively a job tax to prop up the NHS or of parking on local streets, which are already heavily congested with staff and visitor parking. In discussing the issue the Hospital has admitted that they do not have enough parking for patients and staff on the site.

Councillor Jon Twigge for Hazel Grove ward, which experiences considerable parking congestion from hospital staff and visitors, said: “We only found out about these proposals when a resident tipped me off. Residents are rightly concerned that this will see local streets swamped with cars, especially as the hospital staff work shifts covering 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

“When I have talked to the hospital about parking problems their answer was that their staff will park wherever they want as long as it is legal, and they seem to want to absolve themselves of any responsibility for managing the problem they are causing on residential streets.”

Stockport Liberal Democrats are calling on the management of Stepping Hill Hospital to scrap the proposed increase in staff parking charges and to engage properly with local residents to find a workable solution to this problem.