Councillor calls for parking price rise to be reviewed over impact on high streets
Nicholas Thomas, Local Democracy Reporter
Higher prices at a council’s car parks must be monitored to prevent any negative impacts on visitor numbers, a councillor has said.
Caerphilly Council raised the prices for its car parks as part of this year’s budget plans, which also did away with one-hour and three-hour tariffs.
Cllr Nigel Dix, who leads the independent group, said he was concerned higher ticket prices could put people off visiting high streets, where he said it is “difficult enough to maintain shops”.
The council said it wanted to “simplify” parking charges and improve footfall by encouraging shoppers to stay longer in the borough’s town centres.
Visitors to the council’s pay-and-display car parks now pay 10p more for a two-hour ticket.
Cllr Dix, who argued previously that elected representatives should have had more say on the higher prices, said his attempts to bring the matter before a scrutiny committee had been rejected.
He said he had been told this was because the proposals were part of the wider budget consultation at the beginning of the year.
“I’ve asked the council to monitor it, to know the effects it will have on the towns,” he said of the higher prices.
“They said they are going to review it once they’ve got 12 months of data,” added Cllr Dix, who represents the Blackwood ward. “I would rather them review it after six months.
“Once people get used to not coming into town, it’s difficult to get them to come back.”
He said monitoring the data would help “see if there’s any negative impacts, which I believe there will be – people are feeling the pinch”.
Simplification
Caerphilly County Borough Council did not respond to Cllr Dix’s most recent comments, but a spokesperson said previously: “As part of our work to simplify parking and support town centre trade, we’re proposing to remove the one-hour and three-hour tariffs in all council-run car parks.
“These changes aim to encourage longer visits and could help boost footfall and income to support council services.
“A public notice was issued with no objections, and consultation with councillors, ward members, and town councils raised no concerns.
“While the financial impact is hard to predict, any extra income will help cover car park running costs and support their long-term viability.”
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Make all parking Free!
Remember it costs to have the machines and wardens.
The lost revenues will have to be plugged by hiking ctax.
Councils pretending to understand how the economy works, charge the customer they want to attract more, when parking is free in the local supermarket, that must makes sence to somebody.
Councils don’t directly benefit from a bit more high street spending. While free parking might keep a couple of struggling businesses afloat to pay their business rates, most of that still goes to Cardiff Bay, while the VAT, NI and income taxes go to London. That’s why councils wanting to keep ctax bills down must raise revenues through parking.