No plans for more free parking in Council car parks

by Lisa Reeves

Tuesday 4^th March 2014

Tue 4^th Mar 2014

Cheshire East Council has confirmed that they are not currently looking to introduce any more free parking in the car parks they run in Wilmslow.

In recent discussions about how to improve the parking situation in the town and attract more visitors to the shops and restaurants, some people have suggested that more free parking should be made available.

Last year the Council introduced free parking after 3pm at Spring Street car park (off Water Lane) and also recently introduced free parking at the Remenhan site (off Chapel Road) so I enquired whether they intended to expand free parking to other car parks or extend the Free After Three scheme.

A spokesperson for CEC said "No other car parks are currently considered appropriate: either in the wrong place, or to make them free would greatly reduce available short stay parking for town centre customers as they would be occupied all day."

I also obtained figures via a Freedom of Information Request (FOI) which showed that the nine Council run car parks in the town generated a total income through pay and display parking tickets of just under £635,000 in 2013.

The South Street car park (behind Sainsbury's) generates the most income for the Council, with nearly 186,000 tickets purchased in 2013 at a cost of £175,000, followed by Broadway Meadow where 46,272 tickets were purchased at a total cost of £128,000 and 81,286 were bought at the Leisure Centre at a cost of nearly £85,000.

In addition to the income generated from drivers purchasing tickets the Council also receives an income from those who park after the expiry time of their ticket or park in a car park without clearly displaying a valid pay and display ticket.

During 2013 there were 1,200 such cases across the Council's car parks in Wilmslow, with the majority being at the Rex (339), Spring Street (281) Broadway Meadow (222) and the Leisure Centre (192).

Drivers are also able to purchase permits from CEC either on a quarterly or annual basis at the Rex/Hoopers, Spring Street or Broadway Meadow.

27 people have currently purchased quarterly permits at a cost of between £155 and £300 each, whilst 65 people have bought annual permits which vary in cost from £570 at South Street to £1130 at Rex/Hoopers and Spring Street.

Tags:: Parking , Parking, Wilmslow Town Council

Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Julian Barlow

Tuesday 4^th March 2014 at 2:55 pm

With shops disappearing every week, can anyone name a single, positive initiative from CEC to boost the number of shoppers in Wilmslow town centre? Whilst retailers are trying everything within their power and coming up with some great ideas, our "can't do" council continue to demonstrate their complete lack of enterprise.

DELETED ACCOUNT

Tuesday 4^th March 2014 at 3:21 pm

The Leisure Centre has now been "hived off". My money is that CEC will now increase the price of parking at the Leisure Centre to generate additional income.

Pete Taylor

Tuesday 4^th March 2014 at 4:43 pm

The simple answer is to buy a black 4x4, then you can park in disabled bays, or on the pavement, in fact, wherever you want to. No charge, no come-back.

Josie James

Tuesday 4^th March 2014 at 9:20 pm

We need more traffic wardens patrolling residential areas as commuters park without any consideration for residents

Wednesday 5^th March 2014 at 2:06 pm

Not just no consideration for residents - no consideration for shoppers either on the pedestrianised street by the banks. Today I saw a very smart white BMW with tinted windows parked outside the RBS/NatWest. Into it got a sprightly young man and woman. On the dashboard was the disabled sticker. People like that would not use "free parking" if it was there.