A PETITION signed by around 2,500 people opposed to parking charges at Fourteen Locks Canal Centre was submitted to Newport City Council – despite claims to the contrary.

Pictures show the centre’s manager Kate Wickens outside the Newport’s civic centre before handing in the petition and accompanying letters on February 6.

Upon presenting the documents, Ms Wickens was given a receipt confirming that the council had received the petition.

But Ms Wickens says the “mislaying” of the petition has meant the true “depth of feeling” towards the proposals has been ignored.

“The reason I went to the civic centre, took pictures and waited until I had a signed receipt is because petitions go missing all the time when submitted to Newport City Council,” she says.

“It took time to get these signatures and letters together but when I went to the civic centre nobody wanted to accept it.

“It’s just so frustrating, these charges are going to affect so many people.

“No matter how many signatures people gather, the council just doesn’t seem to care, and they’ll go ahead with what they want anyway.”

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According to a new report, more than 300 objections were received when the formal notice of the traffic management order was displayed at Fourteen Locks and Tredegar Park earlier this year.

But the council says these objections related only to the formal notice and did not include any previous objections to the proposals – including Ms Wickens’ petition.

The council had previously said that no such petition had been delivered to the relevant department, but a spokeswoman said: “Newport City Council did receive the petition in February when it was considering the 2019/20 budget.

“The objections referred to in the recent report were received in relation to the traffic management order.

“We apologise for any misunderstanding.”

The proposals for Fourteen Locks and Tredegar Park were hinted at as far back as December 2017 when charges at Belle Vue Park were consulted on, and later approved, as part of the council’s 2018/19 budget.

Charges at Fourteen Locks and Tredegar Park were then finalised on February 26 when the council approved its 2019/20 budget.

Visitors at Fourteen Locks will be asked to pay £1 for a stay of up to four hours, £3 for up to five hours and £5 for more than five hours.

Staff and countryside services volunteers have been given designated parking spaces and will not be asked to pay charges.

But Ms Wickens says the volunteers working seasonal events at the canal centre will be forced to pay a full day’s parking charge.