Eco-warrior: Zac Goldsmith

Free parking at supermarkets could be scrapped under the Tory proposals

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Presently most supermarkets and out of town developments do not charge for parking. Most town centres have 'paid' car parks.

The shops in the High Street are disadvantaged compared to supermarkets and out of town developments.

Over the last 40 years most small rural shops and many independent town centre shops have shut down with the rise of supermarkets and out of town developments.

This has led to a globalised food economy reliant on enourmous food miles, less food choice and the break up of the traditional structure of rural life.

Would it be a better quality of life for all of us if government policy helped local shops provide for all the needs of the local population?

This would mean we could easily feed, clothe and obtain other essential goods from our local areas from small independent shopkeppers and not from faceless multinational corporations.

This may mean we actually walk to our local shops, speak to our neighbours, there would be less cars on the road & our children could play safely on the roads, we would all be healthier, less reliant on the dwindling oil supplies and there would be less polution.

The need for car parking charges on supermarkets would be redundant - the supermarkets would not exist.

Mr. Cameron may be unpopular with this policy, however someone has got to address the question of what are we going to do when the oil runs out?

Please take a length of time and think about that question.

- David Evans, Congleton, Cheshire

Just when it was appearing that Dave might be a reasonable alternative to GB, he comes up with this bone-headed idea. Looks like dumping all three of the major parties is the only way to bring some sanity back to this country.

- R M, London, UK

The man has gone mad! That's what the socialists (Labour) do; interfere, manipulate, tax and legislate. I.e. pass stupid laws. Where can we escape to a free country?

- R Fairless, Morpeth, Northumberland, England

Bonkers!

- Ray, Milton Keynes, England

And they wonder why millions are leaving or have already left the country? So I get in my car for some Corn Flakes from Sainsburys. Extra costs are: road tax, fuel tax, VAT, car tax, congestion charge (in London), possible fixed penalties from the thousands of revenue-generating speed cameras, proposed green taxes and now car park charges. I pray that someone will find a sane politician who is worth a vote before its too late. Will the very last person to leave the UK please lock the door?

- Alan, London, UK

I have 4 kids. I use my car to do the family groceries once a week. Does Mr. Bright Spark Goldsmith expect me to carry 47 bags of shopping on the bus or am I expected to make a dozen separate trips? And what about the other places (bank, post office - no rural one near me, and other smaller shops) that I combine with my trip to the supermarket? I'm a lifelong Tory voter but if this is their answer to New Labour maybe I won't bother any more, besides they'll probably want to charge me for driving to the polling station.

- Stephen, Gravesend UK

This is hilarious. I wonder when the last time zillionaire's son Goldsmith last went into a supermarket and did his own shopping! Does he really expect a voting public to take his ideas like this seriously?

- Zee, London

Environmental taxes don't save the environment, educating people and providing good public transport helps to save the environment. Some villages have one bus every hour or two...it's not practical not to drive with that kind of service at the high prices they charge.

- Catherine, London

Have all your politicians gone nuts? That has to be one of the dumbest things ever. You folks need to remember these things on election day but of course you don't have much to choose from. They all seem to be of the same tree.

- Big Arch, Rockingham,NC USA

Excuse me, what planet are we on? Talk about dredging around for a popularist idea that the other parties haven't thought of already. Touch of the common (ie not public school) man might do the Tory party the world of good, if they are looking for some commonsense policies to champion. Plenty out there, but it does mean one coming off one's estate to find them.

- Matthew, London

And where, pray tell Dave, in the pedestrianised streets would you like me to park if I go to my local shops? We don't all live above a newsagents mate.

Look, you don't even have to try any more. I already told you: "You've lost my vote!" Let it go. I won't come back.

- Jay, London, UK

I work full-time in London all week, so have to do my shopping on Saturday by car at a supermarket. I also take my elderly mother so she can do hers at the same time. How does 'call me Dave' expect me and my Mother to get onto two separate buses with 8 bags of shopping, get off and then walk half a mile to our homes? He's a total idiot and completely out of touch with reality. I shall be voting for one of the smaller political parties next time!

- Sue, Orpington, Kent

I don't have a local shop where I can buy paint, screws, wood and other DIY items. The local B&Q is the nearest, and can you imagine the kerfuffle trying to take a few lengths of 2 x 1 on the local bus. Why should I have to pay £15 to have delivered items that I can easily fit in my car, which happens to be a low-emission vehicle.

And how on earth does one carry home the shopping for a family of 4 on a bus?
Both Conservative and Labour planning regimes have allowed these out-of-town developments at the expense of the local shops that would sell these items, and now years down the road they want to penalise us for visting them. Time for a reality check, Mr Cameron.

- Colin, Balsall Common

I'm torn, this is a stupid policy but then I can't help thinking that it would impact on the woman whom I pass every morning on my way to the station whilst she's driving the 2 minute walk to the local "metro" style supermarket to pick up a pint of milk.
I would happily shop in my local shops if they were open at 7pm when I get home from work or if they opened later than noon on Saturday or at all on Sunday, alas they do not and therefore can only blame themselves for not receiving my custom.

- Terry Roll, London

Supermarket car parks belong to the supermarkets. How could the Tories force them to charge customers for parking? Surely the most they could do would be to increase business rates, so that businesses with a lot of land, like supermarkets, paid more. The businesses might choose to pass on that cost to their customers who arrived by car, but they couldn't be forced to do so. They are far more likely to increase their costs across the board, thus penalising those people who walk or take the bus.

- Freya, London

What planet is this man on? I'm a Conservative voter, but this is just gesture politics. I think I'm going to vote Labour this next time and give these idiots a bloody nose. Next time, perhaps they will choose someone who is electable and who actually has some views, and has the bottle to brush aside contrary views from his own party. We need a leader, not a wimp.

- Brian, Telford

If the choices come down to paying for parking at a supermarket, spending more on groceries at the local corner shop (and doing so practically every day as you cannot carry a week's shopping in one go) then I will do all my shopping on the internet and paying for delivery instead.

This will reduce the size and numebr of supermarkets and certainly reduce the number of people working in them on the tills or stacking shelves and leave me with inferior choices of perishable goods. (I choose the ones with the longest sell-by dates, staff pick those that need to be off the shelf first).

Overall, the total fuel spent delivering goods will not be reduced as the van needs to go back to the deport every couple of hours and the shops gain in the delivery charges.

- Graham, Reading, England

Another party, another stealth tax. It doesn't matter who you vote for, they are all going to screw as much out of the people as they can using global warming as the excuse.

- Casper, Ibiza Spain

Come on David, I so want to vote Tory but you give me no reason. If you go to a hardware store or to do a big shop you need somewhere to put your goods, I hardly think the bus driver will help me with a dozen fence panels or park his bus by my back door, its utterly ridiculous. Listen to what people want, a proper Conservative government that will spend wisely and encourage personal growth. Stop this nanny state, reduce taxes, stand up to the unions, scrap the ridiculously unfair civil servant pensions and cut me some slack.
I’m fed up with paying super stealth taxes just for living somewhere nice & long for a proper Conservative party to fight the current dictatorship.

- Ted, Wendover, UK

This is never going to happen and Cameron knows it. The supermarkets form too powerful a lobbying wedge within the UK economy to surrender one of their main USPs. I'd welcome it, though, as it would help shoppers to understand why what supermarkets' "offer" has sounded the death-knell for so many smaller retailers with, actually, more to offer in terms of choice, variety and quality.
Those of us lucky enough to live in built-up, urban, multicultural areas where business rents aren't high enough to price out innovative shopkeepers know that it's still possible for them to exist alongside the giants.
But, even though we are now an affluent economy, for the majority of the population "choice" is largely an illusion and they can ONLY buy what the supermarkets want to sell them.

- Karli, , London

I'm unable to carry all my shopping and buses don't really have space for lots of people with lots of bags. Also, if I work late, the shop is closed by the time I get off the train in the evening. But rather more to the point, my local shop has a few bits and pieces, enabling me to top up supplies from time to time, but it has a very limited range - for instance, not much choice on fruit and veg. To get a varied diet and the large occasional items such as washing powder, I need to visit the supermarket, which is in the middle of nowhere. I do this roughly every six weeks and fill the car, and in between times I muddle by on the local shop.

- Suzanne, London

Obviously the cConservatives want to lose the next election. Complete idiots. As a Conservative voter in the past I can't believe their policies .People are worried about the NHS, education, immigration, law and order and the economy. I do not think green issues figure too highly for 90% of people. No wonder people don't vote any more.

- Mark, London

I don't think it is right to charge people to park at the supermarket. Not because it is a bad thing, but because it will prove unpopular politically.

A far better way is to tax supermarkets and other megastores like IKEA on the number of free parking spaces they provide.

A sliding scale, increased over time, would cut pollution and congestion, and provide a more level playing field between small local shops and those based in town centres against the megastores that create all the traffic jams on our motorways and main roads.

- Austen, London

Sounds good in theory but in many rural locations public transport is non-existent. As usual, be it Tory or Labour, political parties jump down the charging/tax route to force people's hands. Surely a better plan would be to actually establish a proper, reliable transport system before penalising people for using their cars? The same goes for national trips - rather than hiking taxes on aviation fuel to discourage people from taking domestic flights, or petrol taxes to discourage people from using their cars how about establishing a decent rail system which we can rely on? If this were available people may make the choice themselves to leave their cars at home or not fly. The problem is that revitalising public transport and actually making positive change appears to be too much like hard work for our politicians.

- Headhunter, London

I walk to the local supermarket - reuse my carrier bags and then 90% of the time walk home with the shopping. I am able to do this because my home is reasonably close to the shops - however, I do have to get a lift 10% of the time, because the shopping is quite literally too heavy to carry. I work Mon to Fri so doing the shopping during the week is not an option. The public transport is expensive and not frequent enough. Before David makes silly suggestions he should focus on making a costly public transport system more efficient and a more attractive option. Taxing people more is not the solution - we already are taxed for everything! Although I'm a Conservative voter, even this silly idea has me thinking come on Conservatives buck up your act! At this rate Labour will win again!

- Jk, Kent

A lot of supermarket car parks in our area already charge pay and display, especially, if they are near public transport or the High Street.

You can claim your money back on the till though. I assume a lot of shops would adopt exactly that approach if compulsory charges would be introduced.

- Iris, Kent

It appears I can vote for a leftish dictatorship or a rightish dictatorship. Who can I vote for who will stop the government from meddling to an ever increasing extent with our everyday lives?

- Nigel, London

Has Dave been reading the Michael Foot guide to winning elections? Just imagine what the result of the next election would be if at every supermarket entrance, you passed a sign saying "Vote Conservative and you'll be paying to park here".

After last week's stories of Conservatives being persuaded to work for the government, it looks like Gordon has found another willing volunteer.

- Tonyb, Twickenham

Obviously David Cameron doesn't want to be the next PM. Either that or he is a Labour MP masquerading as a Tory.

- Marc, Harrow, UK

I'm more a Tory than not...or I was. Tory Blair (aka David Cameron) has lost the plot.
I invite him to spend a week up here and try out his plan for use of public transport and the high street.

- Southernskye, Isle of Skye Scotland

Apart from in 1997 when I voted Labour, I have always been a Conservative supporter. Now, I cannot support them. I think that they are totally off the wall. When people are experiencing record bankruptcies and home repossessions, this Cameron nutcase talks about taxing people for everything. He has no concept of what people in this country are experiencing. I cannot vote for them. I dislike New Labour, but they have my vote at the next election. The Conservatives should frankly pack up and close down.

- Anthony, London

The Dave & Zac cabaret is really picking up speed! This latest grasping at straws has probably alienated a further several million potential Tory voters since their act yesterday.

Never have I watched a potential prime minister rendered so totally unelectable - both by himself and his advisors.

- Robin, London, UK

David Cameron and Zac Goldsmith are just so weak and bourgeois. I really despair. Just how big is the "drip" and the "Etonian" vote?

- Chung Yung, London

I live in a village that doesn't have a high street. If I were to do my weekly family shop in the village store there would be no food left for the rest of the residents.

- Paul, London

If this is the best Cameron can come up with then the Tories are a thing of the past in terms of ever re-forming a government.

- Peter Kavanagh, Auckland New Zealand

Can we just NOT hold the next election and just agree Labour have won already? Seriously, WHAT is David Cameron thinking? And who are the imbeciles advising him?

- Marianne, SW France

Supermarkets would resist attempts to force car parking on their sites.

They are in business for their customers and as such to make a profit.

I do not believe they are particularly supportive of the Conservative party or significantly locked in to the ethics of anti-pollution policies.

- William Grierson, Kimpton, UK

And just where would you park your car in the high street? That is if you could find a shop in the high street wedged in between the charity shops, especially in North End or Cosham, the two nearest shopping areas to central Portsmouth and the second of which is pedestrianised and only has a Tesco where you can buy groceries. What planet does this man live on? Are we supposed to pay exorbitant prices of the few independent shops that are 'open all hours' but make us pay for it?

- Monica, Portsmouth

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