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Car parking blitz fuels fears over ghost town
Betty Anderson7/ 5/2008
THE PARKING blitz which comes into force next week could leave Wilmslow like a ghost town.
The retail sector is bracing itself for a slowdown and the business community fears a slump in staff recruitment - with one of the biggest employers hinting it may be forced to move out.
A squad of parking wardens is due to hit the streets on May 14 armed with £50 and £70 fixed penalty tickets.
They will enforce new 45 minute waiting restrictions on side streets around the town centre in line with the borough council’s new parking strategy.
But the Federation of Small Businesses is calling for a rethink warning the local economy will suffer as shoppers take their buying power to Handforth Dean or elsewhere where there is free parking.
Richard Gregg, chairman of Manchester and North Cheshire Federation of Small Businesses, the UK’s biggest business organisation said: "The practice of local authorities using excessive parking charges to raise revenue is killing town centres.
"Draconian town centre parking laws will backfire in the long term as high street shops go out of business and the wealth and employment they create is lost.
"Although parking restrictions can raise a lot of cash in the short term, they can be extremely damaging to local economies and ultimately counter-productive, as shops in town centres begin to close. Spiralling town centre parking costs and huge fines must be done away with permanently."
Meanwhile Freedom Finance, which employs 600 staff at its Church Street headquarters says big companies may up sticks and move away because of the parking headache for staff.
Laura Wander, group human resources director said "Decriminalising parking management in Wilmslow will have a direct impact on people who work in Wilmslow. Whilst we fully recognise the need for this change for local retailers we feel very strongly that the needs of all parties, i.e. workers, residents and shoppers, need to be taken into account before changes are brought in, rather than at some time in the future.
"The overall lack of long stay parking, coupled with the cost of the few available, will make it increasingly difficult to attract workers into Wilmslow.
"My long-term concern is how this will affect all businesses, including retailers, in an already challenging recruitment market. If companies cannot attract staff into Wilmslow then they may be forced to make a decision to move away. I believe that this will have devastating consequences on the local economy.
"Whilst I fully support calls from local councillors for businesses to put transport plans in place, the success of such plans rely to a large part on alternative sources of transport into the town. Trains and buses, however, are currently either very costly or very sparse.
"I believe that a more integrated parking solution could have been delivered, which would have attempted to suit the needs of all.
"The current solution only serves to satisfy retailers. The local council has made it very clear that they would rather wait and see, before attempting to balance the needs of all interested parties."
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8/05/2008 at 14:57
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