As reported in June, Cheshire East Council is offer four free parking days to help boost our towns and businesses as we continue to emerge from Covid restrictions.
I have just been notified that three free parking days have approved by Cheshire East Council for Wilmslow this month:
10th August
17th August
24th August
Councillor Craig Browne, deputy leader of Cheshire East Council and chair of its highways and transport committee, said: "The past two years and more of the coronavirus pandemic and Covid restrictions have been really tough for everyone. So, this free parking allocation is some good news for our residents and businesses.
"The move aims to support our towns, villages and local service centres to have the flexibility to support special events and busy periods, such as autumnal activities and festivals and the run-up to Christmas."
Councillor Laura Crane, vice chair of the council's highways and transport committee, said: "This is an excellent incentive, which is in addition to the continued 'free after 3pm' parking available on a number of car parks across the borough.
"We have made this decision earlier in the year in order to support and help our local town and parish council event managers, who are already scheduling in a number of community events into the calendar."
The local car parks authorised for the free days incentive are:
● Wilmslow: South Drive; Hoopers; Spring Street; Rex
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
All a bit questionable I'm afraid.
If you stand by the road in the centre of Wilmslow at a busy time of day and only allow yourself to breathe when you can see a Range Rover, Porsche, Ferrari, Bentley, or any other expensive 4X4, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar etc. you should be able to stand there for most of the day before starting to turn blue.
I recently walked from Sainsbury's to the REX and almost every PARKED car was an expensive vehicle. I passed lots of Range Rovers, Mercs, BMWs, a couple of Porsches, a Maserati and two Bentleys. All of them parked up for FREE [poor rich so-and-so’s getting by and just managing to make ends meet with an hour of free parking] so if Mr Browne and co. have a mind to arrange the local finances into a better state of affairs it would be a good idea to make this stretch of free parking into the same Pay&Display arrangement as happens just round the corner by Sainsbury's and at the back of Hoopers.
Those who come to town by car wouldn't appear to me to be financially desperate to have 'free' parking so I'm not sure this oddball idea from our head councillors demonstrates they have any handle on the parking problem infesting our streets.
As Maureen [above] says, it is those without a car who are excluded from our community and town and are the ones in need of financial aid in coming here.
I mean, where's the logic?
Browne says, 'The council faces severe financial pressures – with increased demand for key services and significant cuts in funding.....' - so let's reduce the revenue from parking and somehow get it back from an increased spend in the shops. How does that work then? Does Cheshire East take a share in the profits of all the local businesses and so would then probably benefit if they all took in more revenue[profits]? Doesn't the council only benefit from business rates which surely are fixed and hardly affected by a miniscule change in the cost of leaving a car in town? Anyone care to put me right on that one please?
Everyone else seems to have gone a bit quiet!!