FINALLY council leader Steve Galloway has proposed a solution to the parking tax nightmare his party has engineered. And we can safely say that it is a load of rubbish.

In an unexpected twist to the saga, Coun Galloway last night issued a challenge to the Evening Press. Persuade enough readers to take up recycling, thus reducing the council's landfill tax bill, and he will scrap the parking charges.

It is an odd way to go about canvassing our support for a major council initiative, in the middle of a stormy meeting about an entirely different matter.

Nevertheless we are more than happy to discuss Mr Galloway's proposal. This newspaper has always supported green policies, and was at the forefront of the Planet York initiative.

Frankly, however, that is for another time. Last night's meeting was about the here and now: the real damage wreaked to York residents' social lives and livelihoods by the council's inept parking policy.

We will not be distracted from our campaign to Stop The Highway Robbery because too much is at stake. Speaker after speaker yesterday told Mr Galloway of the hardship the policy was causing.

Traders talked of plummeting takings. Social groups said their members were deserting the night-time city centre.

And when that most diplomatic servant of York tourism, Gillian Cruddas, signs our petition - albeit in a personal capacity - alarm bells should be ringing.

Mr Galloway is right to complain about York's unfair grant from national Government. Political parties of all shades should unite to press Whitehall for financial parity.

But the parking charges are a disastrous way to plug the budget gap. We issue our own challenge to Mr Galloway: prove you are listening to the people of York by agreeing to the Labour group's motion for an urgent review of the parking charges.

Updated: 11:16 Friday, July 23, 2004