Traders' cautious OK over parkng

LEWES Chamber of Commerce has cautiously welcomed far-reaching proposals to control on-street parking in Lewes but it has some concerns.

President Malcolm Heaven this week said the chamber recognised that parking in the town centre was a problem and welcomed better enforcement of the rules and the creation of a sensible turnover of parking places.

But there were two major concerns:

l The lack of long-term parking spaces, which made it difficult for commercial firms to recruit staff.

l And the lack of facilities for adequate loading and unloading for business premises.

The concept of having eight separate zones where residents can have parking permits would appear to be unnecessarily bureaucratic and will cost a lot of money to police properly thus involving a draconian level of fines, added Mr Heaven.

The chamber believes it would be better to have one zone covering all the residential areas of Lewes, with residents who have bought a permit being allowed to park across the town.

Long-term car parks need to be supplied for those people who come to the town for employment, including county council employees, rather than the current system which allows them to clog residential streets all day.

Any system must be seen as fair if it is not to deter visitors and shoppers from coming to Lewes. After all, many local towns have free parking, and shoppers and visitors might go there rather than Lewes.

Lewes Chamber of Commerce would be pleased to negotiate with the county council on the issues, Mr Heaven added.