FURTHER to the many letters in News Shopper on the subject of staff parking in the streets around the Princess Royal University Hospital, Farnborough I would like to defend the staff.

While I can appreciate the feelings of residents, I take offence the staff are said to be parking in the streets to avoid paying the charges.

Up until October last year all staff were issued with parking permits which enabled them to park in spaces available for staff.

Then in October the trust introduced a new parking policy so staff had to fulfill certain criteria before they could buy a parking permit at a cost of a minimum of £15 per month without the guarantee of getting a parking space.

This means a lot of staff who don't qualify under this new policy are now having to park their cars elsewhere. The policy applies to all trust sites including Orpington and Beckenham hospitals so I imagine the problem is the same there too.

I believe the fault lies with Bromley Council.

It failed to allow planning permission for better parking facilities when the hospital was planned.

The argument at the time was probably this would have been an ugly building but surely in this day and age, an environmentally friendly and aesthetically pleasing structure could and should have been built for this function?

I'm sure most staff would rather park in the hospital grounds it if was possible.

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