The exorbitant parking charges killing our small town centres

From The Daily Telegraph  Saturday 12th January 2013

By Christopher Hope

Senior Political Correspondent

EXORBITANT parking charges are threatening high street shops in small towns, a study suggests. Smaller town centres charge more for parking than larger retail loca­tions, meaning that they attract fewer shoppers, the research found.

Off-street parking tariffs in 90 towns and cities were surveyed based, on footfall, spending and centre quality by the Association of Town & City Management and the British Parking Association. Some mid-sized and smaller town centres "may be overcharging for car parking in rela­tion to the amenities on offer and suggests that this is contributing to their decline", the report found.

Shopping streets visited by between 200,000 and 250,000 people a week charged 18 per cent more than larger and more popular retail locations. Centres attracting fewer than 70,000 people a week were charging more for parking on average than those locations attracting up to 199,999 people a week.

Hie report suggested that part of the problem was councils using higher parking charges to stop peo­ple driving into the middle of towns on streets which pre-dated cars and widespread car ownership.

This had a knock-on effect because fewer people were visiting the shops, forcing some outlets to close. Ojay McDonald, policy manager at the Association of Town & City Management  said: "Local government must view the health of the local business community as the health of their own organisation and implement policies that support local businesses.

"There are concerns that fees are being introduced in areas where congestion is not an issue, or being raised to levels which stifle trade."

He added that funds had been diverted from car parks and reinvestment was not taking place.

MPs welcomed the report. Marcus Jones, chairman of the town centres parliamentary group, said: "Parking has become a very emotive topic for many people. The high street is fragile and accessibility has become a vital issue. I see this report as an important step in providing evidence that will ultimately support town centre regeneration."

Peter Box, chairman of the Local Government Association's Economy arid Transport Board, said: "Council parking charges are set in consultation with residents and businesses.

"Councils strive to strike a balance between discouraging. commuters from clogging spaces all day while not putting people off from shopping locally, and they operate a range of incentives such as free Sundays, cheaper evenings, free Christmas parking and community group discounts " He said the reduction in council budgets meant they had less to spend on roads and transport initiatives  "Surpluses from parking revenue help lessen the effect of these cuts as they must be spent on transport services such as filling potholes, bus passes for the elderly, park and ride schemes, street lights, parking services and road improvement projects."

The report came as administrators for Jessops, the chain of camera shops, said they were closing all of its 187 stores with the loss of 1,370 jobs. They said further job losses were likely at its head office in Leicester.
Jessops is the first high-profile retail casualty of 2013, after suffering from on-line competition and a boom in camera phones in recent years.

The law firm Begbies Traynor, which specialises in corporate recov­ery, said last month that 140 retailers were facing "critical" financial issues