Business Bites – No appetite to engage on parking pilot from CDC

If we want our streets to welcome independent businesses, rather than chains with big financial backing, we need to increase footfall. An obvious challenge to this is the ease and cost of accessing the city centre. The reality is that unless you are lucky enough to live within walking distance of the Cross, public transport is poor. It makes sense that if you want to do some shopping or bring the family, driving makes the prospect of a trip to town more attractive.

However, while we continue to lose shops, and parking becomes more expensive and charges extended until 8pm in car parks, is there enough of an incentive to spend your money on our high street? Wouldn’t it be more convenient, and perhaps economical, to just drive to one of the retail parks?

For this reason, I proposed an hour of free parking in Chichester, like Petworth has, to help town centre traders. When I met Jess Brown-Fuller MP before the election she supported the idea of a pilot on this, and herself suggested that the Avenue de Chartres as the location for this. Unfortunately, this idea wasn’t taken up by the parking forum which met recently, so it was not put forward as a proposal for the new financial year. John Cross, who is in charge of parking at Chichester District Council explained to me in email correspondence:

“Anecdotal evidence suggests that a ‘free of charge’ period of parking can encourage customers to rush back to their vehicle before the end of the free period of parking has finished rather than encouraging visitors to stay for longer, and national evidence suggests that it is an area’s broader retail, commercial, leisure and / or tourism offer that is the primary factor affecting its competitiveness, rather than solely parking charges.”

Of course, anecdotal evidence doesn’t withstand scrutiny, which is precisely why a pilot was proposed. Then you could really monitor how people behave, the impact on the high street and traffic, and the benefits (or not) realised by traders. And it is a bit of a chicken and egg situation for attracting a variety of businesses. With business rates and costs as they are, footfall and the necessary trading that can bring, needs to be particularly high.

It seems like Chichester District Council is entirely unwilling to engage on the issue of parking fees. Their reasoning as to why seems a little confused.

Mr Cross continued in his email “Parking charges assist with reducing congestion and on-street parking, encouraging alternative forms of travel and are set to cover the cost of providing the service and to enable adequate turnover of spaces, they also provide essential income to support other key services.”

Traffic is abysmal in Chichester, but it isn’t because of shoppers desperate to hit M&S! It is far too simplistic to use congestion and the lack of on-street parking as an excuse for a failure to engage on the issue.

Some parking incentives have been launched for the festive period, but it seems that there are no ideas for a long-term solution when it comes to parking. If you feel strongly about this issue, make your thoughts known. You can email [email protected].

Now to get you in the festive spirit, local charity Sage House, Dementia Support will be launching its Big Christmas Double Up Appeal on Tuesday. The charity aims to raise £100,000. Starting at 12:00 Tuesday 3rd December and for the following 2 weeks (up to 17th December) ALL donations received online or offline will be doubled by match funders. If you can donate, you can do it here https://www.dementiasupport.org.uk/donate