To think parking charges are killing the high street?

[menztoray]

Lots more people are shopping online now including myself. But if you do want to shop in traditional high streets, parking charges are often fairly high. I think this stops people shopping in high streets, especially if they just want to buy a few low value things. I understand that local councils need to make money, but I do think this is contributing to killing the high street.

My local high street is surrounded by residential streets with residents only parking, but only until 12.30 on a Saturday.

I just do my shopping then. I'm always amazed at the number of cars queuing for the expensive car park when there's lots of free residential spaces.

100% agree, parking spaces round here are really tight (unless you drive a smart car, ka etc) and there’s very few yet they cost a fortune. Luckily I’m walking distance from town for little bits however I order big things online because of parking costs and poor quality spaces.

I agree. I live pretty equidistant between to large shopping districts in Bristol. One with free parking and one without. Can you guess which one I almost never go to?

*two

We used to pop in to buy a few things when we could get free parking. Now we just go to a retail park. Retail parks are popular for a reason.

Parking in my local town is very expensive

Plus, it’s capped at 2 hours unless you move your car to a different car park

There is 1 long stay car park where you can stay longer, but it’s usually full by 9am by people working in the town

Our local council multi storey car park was taken over by Smartparking, who not only charge a fortune to park, but levy fines for the flimsiest of reasons, such as taking more than ten minutes after paying the machine to reach your floor in the lift, load a baby, toddler, shopping and buggy into a car and queue to pass the numberplate camera at the exit.
As a result, the car park is virtually empty whenever I go past it.
I shop online, saving the petrol as well as the parking, and I go to an out of town cinema where the car park is free, instead of the iMax on the high street.
I’m not in the least surprised that high streets are dying. My two nearest ones seem full of nail bars, betting shops, hairdressers, pubs and coffee shops, rather than interesting small shops.
I expect exorbitant business rates are also a factor, OP.

YANBU

I cant remember the last time I shopped in the town center. Awful one way system, car parking fees of between 5 to 10 pound plus another couple of pound in petrol to get there. Then having to traipse around shops looking for what I want. Compare that to sitting at home, browsing websites for what I want and getting the best price for it, then delivered to my door for less than the parking fees. Its a no brainer

YABU I don't understand why people are so tight about paying for parking.
My local town Facebook group is full of people bleating on and on about parking costs. It's a couple of quid, I don't see the issue.

I went to Birmingham Grand Central last week. Cost 10.00 for 4 hours. Fucking ridiculous!

My local town has a dying high street but its being kept alive by a huge new primark within walking distance of a supermarket car park which has 3 hours free parking to everyone.
Its meant im there at least every other day!

Our car parks are limited to 2 hours as well, it's such a shame as we have lots of independent quirky shops that you want to take time to browse.
If you have a hair appointment you have to park on a residential road rather than risk going over your time. I heard they are thinking of making the surrounding roads permit holders only

10.00 for 3 hours not 4 !**

NotSo I add the parking charges on to the price of my purchases. So if I want a few bits costing a total of say £15, and I have to pay £5 parking charge to buy them, it makes it too expensive. Same if I want to go to the cinema. Do I pay £6 or £7 parking plus my ticket price, or go to the multiplex with free parking outside the town centre?

Luckily all our local small towns have free parking and for the city centre I just use the park and ride now as it's only £2 at off peak times, so much cheaper and actually easier than driving into the city.

But it's not always 'a couple of quid' so I can see that it keeps people away where it costs a lot more.

Could you park further away and walk?

Buddy You have to park further and further away as people were doing that, so the on street parking charges have just spread further and further out. So no, I don't bother doing that any more.
We were in town recently as we were meeting friends for a meal, and both commented that it has been a long time since we have been in town. We used to pop in for bits regularly. Regularly pop into retail parks though, which I would avoid if town had free short term parking.

Could you park further away and walk?

Lots of residential streets are now permit-holders only or have the same restrictions as main car parks. There's only so far out people can park if they're going shopping, surely?

And also why should people park further away and walk? They have choices and most people will take the easy choice.

Our town centre is £2.30 for 3 hours, we have a thriving town centre with loads of big name shops and independent shops too and a huge market.
It has however killed the town centres of the neighbouring towns.

So you could park cheaply further out, but you don’t want to walk - that’s fair enough. But you’re paying for convenience. Convenience has a value attached to it.

In a town near us they eradicated pretty much all town centre parking because the congestion and consequent pollution was just getting horrendous, so people now have to use park and rides or walk. They’ve pedestrianised the whole shopping area and the town centre’s now sooo much nicer, which in turn benefits the shops as the town’s now a place people want to go and spend long periods of time.

Plus it’s good for everyone’s health - the car drivers get a bit more exercise and there’s less pollution in the town centre, which benefits everyone - whether shoppers or residents. Win win.

No I am not paying for convenience. I simply go to retail parks and shop online like a lot of people. Retail parks have free parking and are very convenient.
BUT I would prefer to support my town centre. If it was convenient I would shop there as a "good thing to do" rather than for my own convenience. But I am not walking 25 -30 mins to a parking space or paying a lot to park

Buddy Are people still shopping there?

It’s not helping but internet shopping is the main problem. Even free parking is not much of an incentive to get drag my toddler around shops to look for something which may or may not be in stock just when I have ordered it to be delivered with only a few minutes effort.

I agree OP. For the main high street brands I use their online proposition but I like to shop in "one off" shops as well. If I had to pay for parking, and queue for the privilege I wouldn't bother but I'm lucky that I can walk to my town with a fair number of unique shops. The council though seem determined to make life difficult and are considering making one of the largest car parks (supermarket) a paying one. We already have a number of empty retail spaces and I expect that to increase over the year if this plan goes through.