News

Parking prices to rise in town centre!...

I wanted to make you all aware of the current situation regarding town centre car parking charges. The Cabinet of the Borough Council have agreed to support a number of proposals to address the funding challenge they face and one of these is to increase car parking charges by 10% which they estimate will raise an additional income of £150k during 2012/13. It is proposed that these charges are introduced from April 1st.
 
As you may recall last year car parking charges were increased for daytime use and an evening charge was also introduced.
 
On the 29th February the Full Council will meet to agree the recommendation of the Cabinet. With the Cabinet and the Full Council being predominantly made up of Conservative councilors these car parking charges will be introduced unless we can convince a large number of councilors to vote against it. This will not be easy but if we don’t try then what will they do next year, when the funding situation has not improved? They see the motorist as an “easy target” for generating revenue income and aren’t concerned upon the impact it has upon the town and its businesses.
 
The Council know that Mary Portas has reported that rent, rates and town centre car parking charges are the three major issues negatively impacting upon High Street businesses so why would they propose an increase in parking charges?
 
The Council are basing their decision to implement this increase upon less than 900 responses they had during the consultation period and I am unaware of how many indicated they would support an increase in charges. We need to get more than 900 people to indicate that they are not supportive of this proposal and then surely the Council will have to change their mind!
 
We have just over 10 days to make our views felt. There is a petition that you can sign to try and stop these increases taking place.  They will be available in a number of shops in Bury St Edmunds such as Scarlet and Paul Stephens on The Traverse, Micks Cycles down St Johns Street, Goldsmiths Jewellers on the Buttermarket, Buy the Light in the Cornhill Walk and Street Level Cafe on Abbeygate Street.
 
It appears that the Council’s only argument to support the proposed increase is “our parking is still cheaper than Norwich, Cambridge and Ipswich!” therefore it’s ok to do this just as long as we aren’t as bad as everyone else!!
 
The Chairman of Bid4Bury and the Chamber of Commerce will next week be sending letters to the local papers, the Leader of the Council and our local MP expressing our concerns but this decision will potentially impact upon YOU and how much you pay to park in town.
 
Thank you in anticipation of your support
 
Mark Cordell, CEO Bid4Bury and The Bury St Edmunds Chamber of Commerce.