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?

Something similar happened in our town, when free parking was introduced for Dec

Train Station parking up to 4 hrs over £15
City center parking up to 4 hrs over £13 one of the nearest towns to me

@LigamentBandy that's not good but in my experience if the main shopping street and/or market place have been pedestrianised there's always plenty of space for everyone to get around.
I rarely see pavements filled up with stuff if the road hasn't been pedestrianised - except for the a-frame type shop signs (which I have been known to move out the way if it's blocking).

Free parking won't fix it - as PP have said, unless it's restricted to just 1 or 2 hours it gets taken up by people working in town.

What needs to happen is to break down the rule that says town centres are places for shopping and not for living. Good, high quality residential property needs to be established in town centres. Provide a resident market and local shops will survive. The idea that town centres only work because people will travel in from outside is outdated.

They should limit the parking fees, as frankly in our area they are ridiculous. They kill off trade with high charges.

I mean it would be a start, but in my nearest town some shops would actually be a good idea. Can't move for empty buildings, nail saloons or coffee shops but no luck if you want to browse or buy things. And the council scratches their heads and wonders why our once thriving town now has tumbleweed blowing through it.

@Needmorelego Apologies for my direct grrrrr-ness! It's ones of my most hated things that are bumface idiots who park over dropped curbs.

@Seekingstyle maybe?
But back in the 60s my mum was sent to town every Saturday as a teen to do the family food shop.
She says the going from shop to shop, stall to stall was the most tedious thing ever. Having to queue several times over.
She laughs at the idea of markets/small shops becoming the thing again instead of a nice big supermarket.

@LigamentBandy me too. Pavements need to be always be clear and have lots of space.

I'd probably go less. At most I drive 5% of the time. The rest of the time I bike or take the bus. If there was more car traffic it would either be less pleasant to cycle or take longer on the bus, so I'd visit less.

Our town centre has free parking with no time limit. By 8am all the spaces are full of commuters' cars so there are no spaces for shoppers. Commuters come from neighbouring towns to catch the train into the city because there is no free parking in their own town. A hire company has also had one of its vans parked in one of the car parks for 3 weeks; the company is based 7 miles away.

That's cheap! Our town is £1.40 for 20 minutes! and we're only a small town, not a city centre

Haven’t seen this point made yet:

Most people don’t want to see green belt land to be used for housing, when it leads to their market towns and villages being swallowed up in urban sprawl.

If the green belt is to be preserved then brownfield development in big towns needs to become much more appealing, both to developers and to the homebuying public.

Part of this will be that the people living in the market towns and villages will need to accept it’ll become more difficult driving through big town. Because those people living in new town centre residential areas won’t want heavy traffic rat-running past their door.

Park and ride and public transport are the way forward if you don’t want urban sprawl.

Doesn't even need to be free. Just cheaper. We also changed plans because of charges and went elsewhere. I do grit my teeth when going to theatre or some independent restaurants.

What would also help is uniqueness. Major shops, major chain restaurant and pubs are everywhere easily accessible. Why would I pay 10 for going shopping inyo same shops that are in retail park with free parking.

I really miss the thriving town centres of 20 yrs ago - Now the shops I loved have gone. Charity shops and coffee shops have replaced it.

I'm put off city shopping now because

• parking hassle - I don't mind paying, but the cameras, machines that don't print right, horrible fines sent out if you make some small mistake

• driving through to get to parking - up and down 20/30 mph limits and bus lanes

• busy streets that seem to always have scaffolding and work going on making it hard to manoeuvre

• staff in shops that are untrained and know nothing about the products (although they are friendly enough and know where products are on display)

• less choice and slower to browse

• for me the fuel cost as its 20 miles each way to my nearest city centre.

Some things are far better bought in person- shoes, most clothes, new perfume and books. But the experience isn't fun anymore. I usually end up having coffee and lunch and coming home again to buy online!

But the independents can't make a living from the city centre shops because rents are high and footfall low... Bring more people in by making the city centres easier to access, you increase footfall and revenue to shops.

So you want to pay more tax to subsidise free car parking?

Loads of town centres need less traffic.

I agree. They also need better public transport.

We have hourly trains and buses (which run at the same tim), and two hourly in the evening. Taxi services round here aren't great either.

My local large town has inexpensive parking and up to 3 hours free parking at the weekends.

I agree OP! Absolutely loathe paying for parking, and not really because of the cost - it’s more the inconvenience of the apps / finding the payment machine / deciding how long you’ll be staying in advance / panicking about getting back in time. If there was free parking at train stations, I’d use the train more but the “use public transport” argument only works if you can get to it to start with. In my last house, it was over a mile trek up a very steep hill to get home from the train station. How can I do that with shopping bags?!

I now live very near a train station and can easily access it but won’t much this time of year because it feels SO unsafe. The station is quiet, poorly lit and the narrow windy path from the street to the platform is covered by lots of large trees. If there was good lighting and visible guards on duty, I’d consider it. I can’t imagine having to come home even mid-afternoon with it getting dark and walk through that station on my own. No thanks.

We have free parking and local town centre is great. In the new year it’s going to charge and we will lose the lot. I certainly won’t go - far cheaper to go to the local city outskirts shopping centres - very shortsighted and our new labour MP is doing nothing. Both the post office is shutting and car park charges going in and he hasn’t done anything or made any comment!

I don't shop in my towns/cities because they are basically inaccessible to a wheelchair user.

I don't use the free park and ride schemes, they almost never have a properly wheelchair accessible bus.

I would go more if parking was free (it is not free even for blue badge holders!), but I'd go even more if things were more accessible, if pavements were wide enough, not cluttered with ill thought out pavement furniture, or cafe tables or shop sign boards.

If there were more accessible toilets, if I could get into more of the stores (the EA is a joke, many places should have made themselves more accessible and have not as there is no easy way to make complaints nor effective way to make businesses make changes).

It is bizarrely, about the same price, but significantly more accessible to get a train into a major UK city... about an hour away, (and time wise with the traffic not much different), than to go to my nearest small city/large town. (I of course still have to book this in advance and run the risk of someone on a platform forgetting/not being told I need the ramps though).

Our local midlands town has free parking and it was really busy today. It's not a wealthy area and the high street would die if people had to pay to park.

Completely agree. I'd love to see high streets have more farmers' markets, food festivals, unique experiences, and places where you can explore new tech or concepts. Where I live the high street is just coffee shops and bars. The old department store is being turned into resdiential (160 flats). I do think having 300 odd more people wondering about will enliven things.

We have to pay for our car parks and they are always full so not sure it works anyway

cheap buses have worked tho and I use those more now