To think Free Parking is the answer to revive our town centres?

[Jumell]

I’ve been thinking a bit about this lately.

Whenever I thought about going to the city centre where I used to live, to shop/browse etc - the main thing that would stop me going was the thought of paying for parking - I’d just think - ‘nah’ - and not bother going in.

i think that if the Govt took the initiative to scrap all charges from car parking companies - NCP/Councils etc etc in town centres / high streets - it would massively revive these shopping centres that we all knew and loved?

The village DID have a train station but that was closed in the 70s!

Older people can't just move from places where they've lived all their lives.

This isn't a tiny hamlet village either - it's got over 8,000 inhabitants so more of a small town really. To get the bus, you have to walk down narrow lanes (some without pavements) to the by-pass!

should we also take into account the cost of car crashes daily which is phenomenal cost? You’ll be looking at well over £33bn which surpasses the subsidies to bus & railways

https://www.hughjames.com/blog/the-cost-of-road-traffic-accidents/

I did mention it’s not just car drivers that use the roads

if public transport and active travel aren’t improved then private car use will continue to increase & that causes multiple problems for everyone

Buses get taken off. So do trains. It’s not a simple solution of well move then. We can’t all move next to a railway station. Also my local authority slapped a bus stop outside the newly built leisure centre. Is there a bus from my part of town to there? No.
The previous poster hit the nail on the head by saying only London is seen as worthy of great transport.
Many people do not live in city centres. I can’t see this changing anytime soon.

@MikeRafone that link is nearly seven years old.

This might be preferable https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/reported-road-accidents-vehicles-and-casualties-tables-for-great-britain#full-publication-update-history

RAS 4001 which can be found in the link above has a higher overall figure again. £42 billion for 2023. Although only £11 billion relates to Fatal and Serious collisions. and the breakdown of the £42 billion by cost type (eg lost output which is estimated at £5.4 billion). The biggest cost element at £28 billion though is the possibly more nebulous human costs. There’s a link to the methodology in the data table notes for anyone who really wants to get into the detail.

boys3

yeah, costs go up
thanks for the link

A large proportion of accidents involve lorries, buses, etc., so again, you can't compare and use the figures to attack car drivers.

I actually think older people absolutely should move as they age and doing so should be normalised. So many people end up living in places that are completely inappropriate for them just because it was appropriate decades ago - locations that mean they have to drive when they’re no longer safe to, large gardens/houses they can’t keep up with maintenance for, steep stairs or paths that they might fall on etc. People should expect to live in different places throughout their lives as their needs change and actually consider what they need rather than drifting through life on autopilot!

I have lived in 4 different towns/smaller cities in the UK, none of them are London, and in all of them I was perfectly able to use public transport to meet my needs and not need a car. It’s not just London. But equally I don’t have a problem with changing bus or train (which is the norm in London too btw!) or walking to a stop

There’s so much truth in this, but from what I’ve seen, a lot of people don’t do this until it’s much too late. Also from what I’ve seen it’s left to younger, working family members to pick up the pieces

You have a very limited view of disability.

Until 2019 there was a multi story car park on Welbeck Street (just behind Oxford Street) that was loved by architects - and also helpful for shoppers! Sadly it was demolished and a hotel was built on the site :(

Older people

just discovered a Logan’s Run clip on TikTok @erihskreb ?

what’s your starting point for older people? Presumably something past 30? 😄

I'll just order even more items online if the only way to shop in person means all the stress of all that traffic.

Back to high streets though. The best are:

1. Queen Street Cardiff
2. Central Shopping Streets Gloucester
3. Eastgate Street Chester

That is from a piece of consumer research earlier this year. I can’t claim no know much about any of those three, so informed perspectives would be interesting.

Variety was the most important consideration. By some distance.

Followed by a range of key services being available

Good Parking Options next, but no detail in the research summary I could see about how influential (or not) parking charges are.

https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/newsroom/articles/amex-for-business/new-american-express-research-reveals-the-british-high-streets-w.html

Research link. It’s just one survey, albeit undertaken this year, and with all the usual survey caveats, and no obvious links to the full methodology. But perhaps some interesting points for discussion and comment.

Several of the key findings seem to resonate with points made by a number of pps already.

Yes @Jumell I agree with you but especially for smaller village highstreets rather than bigger towns but it also needs very close and accessible parking - making it easy to just drop into a shop.

A friend lives in one where the high street is lovely - butcher, pharmacy, couple of independent gift shops, pub, wine bar, independent deli and so on. The council wanted to introduce parking charges and the residents were up in arms so it is now 1 hour free. The high street remains very vibrant and I'm sure the ease of parking for a quick shop really helps.

Oh my God, I had no idea

Just what London needs, another hotel 🙄

A lot of people don’t like cars, so I know it wouldnt happen - but lots of Londoners own cars and would like to be able to shop in central London frequently. I would love for some of the mid range High Street shops to be back in in central London. Maybe even an ASOS and a top shop. Being able to drive and park nearby could make this happpen.

Also other high streets in London are dying or are only filled with betting shops and chicken shops. bringing back retail shops and chains would be good I think

I disagree with that completely tbh. I don’t think we live in the city means you can’t have a car. We’ve had cars all this time.

I think that you’re right that we won’t have parking built in central London, but I do think it would be good for the economy and good for Londoners. London doesn’t have an accommodation crisis it has an affordable accommodation crisis.

building more luxury flats to be rented out by people that don’t even live in the country isn’t going to help housing. Making parking spaces available in the city towns could really help the retail sector which really does need help

still, its wishful thinking on my part, I know

@MumOfOneAllAlone the thing with central London is it's not just parking - you have to pay the congestion charge too (plus ULEZ if applicable).
The idea of driving to central London for shopping is something that is almost impossible and not encouraged. That's probably why a car park was replaced by a hotel.

Yeah, this is all true, just think it’s a shame

An Asos

seriously @MumOfOneAllAlone ??????

Asos is a purely online retailer. It is never going to move into Bricks & Mortar stores. But it probably has been, still is, and will continue to be another contributing factor to the struggles in so many high steers.

I was thinking that because they bought top shop, they could have a shop in London
Just wishful thinking

No, inspired by seeing an 85yo relative’s unsafe driving recently! I’ve also always thought it when watching property shows with couples in their 60s or older who are looking to move somewhere remote when they should be doing the opposite. It should be part of people’s retirement planning but a lot of people are in denial about their future needs.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/325885/road-accidents-in-great-britain-uk-by-vehicle-type-and-journey-purpose/

im not attacking car drivers, that’s something you’ve decided. This is the issue that I referred to in my previous post, if you start stating more is spent on private car drivers and if we want decent public transport - it’s attacking drivers, you’re doing and saying that

of course hgv and buses have crashes, they drive more miles - but private drivers have more than all of them put together

I say YABU but in a naive way. My home town is frequently clogged with traffic, over the last two decades it has been getting worse and has IMO deteriorated the quality of life in the town. We really don't need to encourage more people to act like Americans and bring one car each for a journey equivalent to a 10 minute walk or bike ride into an area with very limited space. I'd rather we got public transport up to a decent level rather than the mediocre/poor we have at the moment, and improve cycling infrastructure to encourage people to consider alternatives to the car. Other factors could be a higher police presence to at least make town centres feel safer as opposed to a haven for druggies and anyone who fancies a punch-up, and don't raise the business rentals to the point where the small local shops can't continue trading and the town centre regresses to a area of chain stores and estate agents.