€10 per hour parking fee proposal in Scheveningen abandoned

A proposal to increase the hourly parking rate in Scheveningen from 3.90 euros to 10 euros was rejected by the Den Haag city council on Thursday. The idea was presented by Alderman Robert van Asten from the D66 party to deter visitors from leaving their cars in residential areas near the beach.

The parties rallying against the bill called it “extortionist”. They did not believe that raising parking prices would persuade visitors to park elsewhere. They also feared that the increase would lead to Scheveningen gaining the image of an expensive seaside resort.

The aldermen said he understood the objection, yet did not believe the parking fees would alter Scheveningen as drastically as the opposing parties claimed.

“Last year we had a bad image as a seaside resort because there was a huge mess”, Van Asten said after the meeting. “We want to prevent that at all costs. So, I think that we as a city have to improve the image of Scheveningen by ensuring that people no longer park in the street, but instead in a garage.”

Opposition parties such as Hart voor Den Haag/Groep de Mos, Nida, Islam Democraten and the PVV, as well as the coalition parties VVD and CDA were not in favor of the bill. In the end, only D66, GroenLinks and PvdD supported Van Asten’s plan.

Increasing the parking fees in Scheveningen is not the only measure the city council proposed to prevent parked cars from becoming a disturbance this summer. A plan of action was drawn, including measures such as extra police deployment, better information about access routes and more hygienic facilities such as public toilets and showers. These measures received greater support from the city council.