Curb your enthusiasm

2 minute read  |  September 30, 2016

The story here is that by failing to sell their parking allocation councils are falling short of money to fund other projects. This has resulted in some areas raising council tax to plug the deficit, thereby savings jobs and maintaining important services.

This is the story being published, but is it the right one? Let’s rework the headline slightly:

Parking restrictions in city centres force shoppers online

With parking becoming more of an issue in many towns and cities, shoppers are rejecting local shops in favour of online shopping. As a result, physical shops are closing daily, with many high streets unrecognisable from years past.

Woolworths, BHS, Dixons, C&A, to name but a few, are now fading memories of a time before internet shopping. While many will have you believe that this is merely a sign of the times, the truth is parked much closer to home.

Large shopping centres, such as the Trafford Centre, facilitate upwards of 31million shoppers per year, due, in no small part, to their free parking.

The continued closure of shops in town and city centres mean lost revenue for many councils, making belts tighten all over England, but what if free parking was offered to encourage the public to frequent shopping centres?

Cardigan

Last year, the sleepy Welsh town suffered at the hands of vandals, when the town’s pay and display machines were damaged. As a result they were unable to charge for parking until they were able to raise the £22,500 needed for repairs. During that time local shops found that takings were up by 50 per cent, with shoppers flocking to the town centre and lingering for hours at local shops, cafes and restaurants without fear of the dreaded traffic warden.

Dying breed

The number of shops in Britain has fallen by almost 500,000 since the ‘60s, with close to 40,000 shops now standing empty. The removal of free parking on a Sunday has compounded the problems even further, though many councils, wrongly, believe it is the lack of loose change that has seen a reduction in the shoppers.

Options to pay by debit card or mobile phone have been trialled, but are seen by many as a way for councils to take even more money out of the pockets of residents, with councils raising over £1billion a year from parking tariffs.

Non-starter for 10

With more drivers on Britain’s roads than ever before, parking has become a premium for many drivers and with councils pocketing billions for parking charges it’s unlikely that the debate will ever be treated with the respect it clearly deserves.

Councils will continue to struggle to sell their parking permit allocations when so many of the public are strongly against the monetisation of parking. Without consumers, shops will continue to struggle and ultimately disappear. Without business rates, councils will lose revenue and be forced to plug the deficit from other areas continuing a vicious cycle of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

The simple answer would be to stagger free parking times throughout the week in an effort to determine whether trade is positively affected. Either way, change needs to happen before the British high street is just a memory.

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