Telford & Wrekin Council seeks Morrisons meeting following cameras letter

Telford & Wrekin Council wants a meeting with the chief executive of Morrisons after receiving a letter from him which says it will not activate parking enforcement cameras “immediately”.

Council leader Councillor Shaun Davies’ office received the letter from Morrisons chief executive David Potts on Wednesday 8 August.

The letter says: “I can confirm that we would not activate the automated number plate recognition system immediately and would only do so if the situation with customer parking gets worse.

“As I hope you will appreciate, it is important for us to reserve the right to introduce car park management to protect the interests of our customers.

“However, I can assure you that any such decision would not be taken overnight or without consultation with local stakeholders.”

Councillor Richard Overton, Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet member for Enforcement, said: “I am glad that Morrisons have been in touch with us but this is not a promise that the cameras will never be switched on so the threat of it happening has not been removed.

“We have been clear from the outset that any restrictions that get introduced at the car park could be harmful to Lawley Village and could result in customers taking their business elsewhere.

“The car park is in the centre of the community and provides parking facilities that support the retail and business facilities in addition to the area’s community facilities.

“Restrictions on the car park could also result in Morrisons itself losing customers.

“We continue to support the residents of Lawley Village in opposing the introduction of restrictions on the car park as they would be damaging for residents and businesses should they ever be brought in and we would like to meet with Morrisons to make that clear.”

The issue arose after a planning inspector took a decision to allow the cameras – overturning an original decision by Telford & Wrekin Council’s Planning Committee.