Lib Dems condemn car park changes in South Warrington

10:20am Monday 19th November 2012 in News

Lib Dems condemn car park changes in South Warrington Lib Dems condemn car park changes in South Warrington

LIBERAL Democrats have condemned new parking charges at car parks in Stockton Heath and Lymm.

The new parking changes came into effect today, Monday at The Forge shopping centre in Stockton Heath and Pepper Street in Lymm, with two further sites having fees introduced in Lymm.

Clr Brian Axcell (LD - Appleton), the Lib Dem transportation spokesman, said: “The proposals are unfair and unnecessary. These car parks already make a surplus, and will bring in more with the ‘no return within two hours’ condition, to which we have no objection.

“The overspend on the councils parking service is being caused by the free residents’ parking schemes operating in the centre of the town.

“The fact is the council intends to make a huge surplus on car parks in Stockton Heath and Lymm to cover the losses being made on these schemes and it is only residents and visitors to south Warrington that are expected to fork out - there are no charges for parking in council car parks in Latchford, Orford and Culcheth.”

Clr Axcell said it would cause major problems for the people of Stockton Heath and Lymm.

He added: “Cutting the time for free parking will change the nature of trips to these villages and displace parking elsewhere. Apart from causing anxiety for residents going to the doctor, dentist or solicitor if appointments are running late, the changes will affect local businesses. Visitors will be much less likely to browse in the shops or stop for a leisurely cup of coffee or a meal if they are tight for time.

“We say the council should look for efficiency savings where it is losing money, not just pick easy targets for extra cash.”

Comments(10)

grey_man says...
10:57am Mon 19 Nov 12

I agree absolutely but it's unfair to say that it is residents parking that is the major cause of the deficit in the parking service. The major part of the deficit is council staff parking.

No doubt when the changes start to affect businesses in Stockton Heath, we can look forward to the council putting up some banners to 'promote' the place.

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gerrumonside says...
11:48am Mon 19 Nov 12

I’m flabberghasted by this “Outrage” from the councillors from the more affluent areas of the Town.
The childish way Cllr Axcell points the finger at free residents parking in the Town Centre..(what is this by the way?) And then free council car parks in Latchford and Orford. So what? These areas are struggling and need a boost; they deserve free car parking at the very least. I Doubt Cllr Axcell or the other Lib Dem or Conservative Councillors have ever ventured into Orford or Latchford… If they have they would see they are light years away from Lymm or Stockton heath in terms of facilities shops or as place to want to spend more than an hour in.

To point the finger at those boroughs in a school playground manner is a disgrace.

And I would like to see the figures the councillor is using when he quotes the Forge as making a surplus. I have used that car park loads of times and have never once paid for parking as it was free for so long. Added to the fact it was always overly patrolled by the parking police as well did it really make money I’m highly suspicious?

And if a resident in Stockton heath gets anxiety over visiting the dentist and over running the free stay, and having to pay fifty pence (how will they cope!!!), have a bit of Sympathy for a resident of the Town Centre like me who doesn’t have the option of Free parking and has to pay a minimum of £1.20 for one hour on Time Square Car park. Or guess what else I do……..WALK.

Out of touch and making statements to justify their existence.

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grey_man says...
12:16pm Mon 19 Nov 12

The council's car parks make an overall surplus of £51,000. I agree with you that it's unfair to target residents parking in the town centre which makes a deficit but seems to me to be necessary for the good of the people of the town.

One area of the deficit none of them will talk about is the £106,000 it costs them to pay for parking for council employees. That never seems to be an issue that they need to address.

So this new parking charge is likely to harm the businesses in Stockton Heath and is essentially a way of continuing to subsidise benefits for town hall staff.

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MikeJT says...
2:08pm Mon 19 Nov 12

"The childish way Cllr Axcell points the finger at free residents parking in the Town Centre..(what is this by the way?)"

Close to the town centre are a number of residential streets. Arpley Street. Thynne Street, Hanover Street etc. The residents are allowed a permit to allow them to park outside their own houses. Not covered by the permit scheme are tradesmen working at these house, delivering to these house or in the case of any elderly residents, anybody actually attending to provide them with care. Previously these street used to be limited time period parking, so in fact no revenue has been lost. INFACT previously the council owned a number of garages in these street which the council then rented to the residents. In a fit of short-sightedness they actually chose to sell them off to a private business. They cannot claim that this was a cost saving exercise as in all the time I lived in that are, the council were never once seen to be carrying out any maintenance on the parking areas.

So if Mr Axcell wants to address the parking elsewhere then fair enough, but please dont try and point the finger elsewhere when you know nothing.............
......... (hmmmmm...how long before some other councillor now jumps on these comments and announces we are scrapping them because Clr Axcell are pointing out they are costing us money?. Simple bull###t or premeptive bull###t?)

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notatcreamfields says...
2:17pm Mon 19 Nov 12

Maybe it'll encourage people to walk to the shops or if out of area (which not many are due to the same or inflated costs compared to everywhere else) if it was a tourist destination which it isn't i could understand the out rage but people elswhere walk to the shops why can't they? And if they're that effected and can't afford to pay instead of just not wanting to they can shop at Morrisons and park for free and god forbid they need to go into the village they can walk from Morrisons into the village. There you go problem solved with a little thinking, Why does the Guardian think YET AGAIN this is a news story when obviously it's not

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grey_man says...
2:21pm Mon 19 Nov 12

Try to keep up NAC. In survey after survey, parking fees are one of the most important contributors to the demise of High Streets. In this case, the council is trying to milk a part of the parking service that already makes a profit so that it can continue to subsidise parking for itself. It would rather deter people from spending time and money in local shops than face up to that uncomfortable truth.

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Gorsedd says...
3:03pm Mon 19 Nov 12

grey_man wrote:
Try to keep up NAC. In survey after survey, parking fees are one of the most important contributors to the demise of High Streets. In this case, the council is trying to milk a part of the parking service that already makes a profit so that it can continue to subsidise parking for itself. It would rather deter people from spending time and money in local shops than face up to that uncomfortable truth.
Whilst failing to properly manage - and consistently not collecting the rents for - its own captive collection of garage/parking sites scattered around the borough. What is misses with one hand it makes up for with the other. Hardly the stuff of "Warrington Means Business". It's more like Warrington deters business.

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gerrumonside says...
1:23pm Tue 20 Nov 12

grey_man wrote:
Try to keep up NAC. In survey after survey, parking fees are one of the most important contributors to the demise of High Streets. In this case, the council is trying to milk a part of the parking service that already makes a profit so that it can continue to subsidise parking for itself. It would rather deter people from spending time and money in local shops than face up to that uncomfortable truth.
Well I'm not convinced by Survey after survey grey man, we recently made a specific journey to Manchester and I parked in the Arndale centre car park it cost me four quid for a couple of hours, and thats the going rate. I knew it wouldnt be free or fifty pence.

I know that currently the Town centre has a slowly dying and decrepit Market and time square area. It has a high street that is full of largely closed down stores closed down pubs, kebab shops/takeaways, and a few pubs that do trade but open largely at the weekend only. But it has a reasonbly attractive covered shopping centre in the Golden Square.

you could give away free cars never mind free car parking and its still not a great reason to visit the town centre.

I'm a big fan of Primark coming to the Town and hopefully revitalising the Town centre with other retailers wanting to come along. Lets hope the Council actively help to continue this boost we will be getting, and drive it forward to other areas of the Town Centre.

Sadly they are more likely to do nothing and watch from their leafy suberbs. concentrating on the odd local planning decision, or making sure the hanging baskets on the lamp posts are being watered regulalry by the ground works teams.

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grey_man says...
1:59pm Tue 20 Nov 12

You can think that and still wonder why councillors are looking to extract more money from an already profitable part of parking services at the risk of harming local businesses while not even considering for a moment whether to address the fact that half of the deficit is down to its own parking arrangements.

Personally, I think all local shops whether they are in Stockton Heath, Culcheth, Latchford or wherever deserve to be given every chance to succeed. Charging people to park, and having what in Stockton Heath at least are very active traffic wardens, is not helpful.

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Gorsedd says...
7:50pm Tue 20 Nov 12

If local businesses are not given every encouragement to succeed places like Stockton Heath, Culcheth and Latchford will die on the vine, to the public's detriment. Go and have a look around some of the more rundown areas of our larger cities to gauge what the local effects of that lack of encouragement have produced. Without that stimulus we will all be resigned to having shop in places like the Arndale Centre, Golden Square the Gemini Centre. If that's what you want fine, but most people given the choice would prefer to shop locally for the daily essentials, while going to the larger centres for their more selective shopping. It is ridiculous to attempt equate parking charges at town centres with those of smaller suburbs, whether or not there are hanging baskets around. Malls are fine but so are markets. If Warrington really does mean business it should be thoughout the borough and not in selective areas.

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