THE introduction of car parking charges for visitors at Wharfedale General Hospital is bound to make nearby residents shudder.

No doubt there will be those visiting the hospital who will seek places to park their vehicles outside of the hospital grounds now that charges are in place.

This can only mean a headache for those who live nearby as roads become ever more crowded with vehicles.

A spokesman for the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust says that a charge of 50p for two hours' worth of parking is not a very high rate.

This may be true, taking into the consideration the amount two hours parking in a city centre costs, but the point at issue is whether there should be any charge at all.

Anyone who regularly uses the Charles Street car parks in Otley will see that the free car park always fills up quicker than the pay-and-display car park, even though the charge is only 20p per hour.

Many motorists will even go to the lengths of parking where there are no spaces allocated to escape paying the comparatively small charges.

Some, such as Otley town councillor Phil Coyne, see the fact that charges are being introduced in a hospital as an extra taxation on health and the introduction of an inappropriate city centre policy in a rural community.

It would be good to see funds raised by this scheme ploughed back into the provision of public transport or improved facilities for the hospital.

But otherwise it seems to be an excercise in cost-cutting that is hardly beneficial for a caring image for the provision of healthcare in the nineties, especially with the deterrent of wheelclamping for those who don't pay.

Even staff will be expected to pay a fee for their monthly parking.

We can only hope that users of the hospital are not deterred by the charges and that the policy will not end up penalising those who need the healthcare facilities at Wharfedale General the most.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.