THE WEST END has been spared weekend and night-time parking charges, after Westminster Council today abandoned controversial plans to make drivers pay £4.40 an hour during the off-peak.
Popular on LondonNet
The new charges – which were due to net Westminster £7 million a year – were to have come in next month, with parking meters in operation until midnight on weekdays and Saturdays and until six o’clock on Sundays.
But pressure from: shops, bars and restaurants fearing reduced business; West End theatres worried about falling audiences; London Mayor Boris Johnson, who called the plans “mad”, and a damning report from Mary ‘Queen of Shops’ Portas looks to have forced a re-think at the council.
Officially, Westminster will announce that the scheme has been delayed until a court review in March 2012, but it is thought likely it will be put on the back burner for much longer.
