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?

If you want town centers to be a busy place, put one bed housing in where department stores once where & attract offices

get people living in town centers and working in town centers

oyr town center is full of coffee shops, restaurants- both independent & chain. If you trying and get a booking on a Thursday night it can be difficult. Town is very busy in the evening with people eating and drinking. They get Ubers or bus as they want to drink. There are plenty of parking spaces

Yes I agree

but I think the government wants to destroy community

Got be honest - I can’t argue with your out of town shopping centres argument

I agree with you on all their benefits

however I suppose I’m barking back to let’s say - 1982 a nd before -when people were nostalgic about shopping centres and high streets!

I also agree with points made on here about the benefits of free public transport

True, even shopping centers can suffer from congested roads!

But this is, at least in part, the fault of planning systems. Nobody should be allowed to build shopping centres with only one entrance/exit, as it inevitably leads to severe congestion at junctions & mini-roundabouts within the centre and overloads the junctions outside the centre. And if there's an accident or breakdown, everything stops completely. Of course, the property companies who own the sites want to do what's cheapest, so will always submit plans with only one access point, but councils should be rejecting these and central government should not overrule them.

My small town used to have parking bays at the side of the road. They stopped those and then made the carpark half an hour free parking. That was great - you could nip in grab the couple of bits you needed / go to the library / pick up prescription. Often I would stop on way home from elsewhere.

They stopped that and it's now £1.50 for 30 minutes which is ridiculous.

I do live walking distance so it doesn't impact too much - just means I have to go home from where else else now park and then walk in but I think it really does impact people just popping in for a couple of things.

Any in the bigger town the supermarket car parks are full because they give 1.5/2 hours free parking with no need to spend there.

I never understand this. If you can afford a car / coffees in town / meals put etc why would you begrudge a tenner on parking every so often? Car parks aren't maintained by the magical free money fairies. Or more people could use their legs and get free exercise carrying their shopping, I use IKEA bags for Xmas stuff.

This is what happens at our local popular retail park, I'm within walking distance so often walk there but it's a horror at the weekends with the traffic and parking

My town has won high street of the year multiple times. I think the large free car park is a major factor in attracting shoppers to the town ahead of neighbouring towns which supports local businesses and keeps the high street vibrant.

We have free parking where I live , and in the all surrounding towns, but a lot of them are time limited.

That doesn't mean that all the businesses thrive in these towns, there are other issues with that.

However, everytime I've visited a town where I've had to pay to park , that's been busy too.

Easily stopped by making the parking free from 10am - 4pm only or for a maximum of 4 hours or similar. Allows shoppers to park for free but not commuters.

Well in some retail parks the shop owners pay for the upkeep of the car parks, which is how they keep them free.

Our big town used to be pay per hour. Now it's minium 3 hours at around £4. That's put me off and I've not paid for just over a year. One Park and ride closed. The other is more expensive than parking and still central enough to get snarled up in town traffic. If I knew there was a option to pay for just one or hours I'd go back. But whatever I buy is going to be more than postage costs. I just to pop in to browse, now I'd need a firm reason to go

If you want to pop too the closer market town there's always free short stay options for a hour.

Ours is minimum 2 hours for £5- just no! Saturdays are a bun fight with the extortionate parking on top so nipping in after work for a hour would be my preference but at that price no. I can get everything on Amazon or a big John Lewis order.Any thing not covered by them I wait until I am entitled to free postage or pay for postage which is still less than parking for an hour.

I am also vary wary re the crafty parking companies with hidden signs who sting you.

Sadly that’s not going to happen:
a)most town centres are trying to reduce traffic (pollution and congestion) and encourage public transport/coming on foot
b) for most councils its an essential source of income
c) no income means those carparks fall into disrepair
d) most town centres are dying because of a mix of high business rates/skyrocketing commercial rent charges and the move to online shopping.

I’ve actually started going back into town and happily paying the £1.50 parking charge because it’s become bloody impossible to park at outlying village shopping parades - if you can find a rare space to park without risking your car or life getting across the road you have to queue for half an hour in the chemist ti be told they don’t have you prescription ready anyway and to come back tomorrow. At least if I use the Boots in town I can pop to one of a million coffee shops, book shops, pop to the supermarket to buy something for supper more cheaply that the village coop, or browse the clothing stores (where I find myself treating myself occasionally) to kill 30mins while they sort my scrip out.

TLDR - if we want our town centres to flourish, we have to use them and that means sucking up a parking charge.

£1.50 is a lot different to £5.If councils want to cut pollution maybe they should do something about the exorbitant, crap public transport many of us have to put up with too. In our city most of the shops sell half of what you can get online. I’m not paying £5 for the privilege of shopping in shops when I can shop a wider range online- for free!

My town has free parking, the high street is still dying.

£1.50 for 30mins; closer to £5 for 2 hours. I still pay it though if I’m expecting to be out that long. I use the Ringo app which means I can pay the minimum and top up if need be, which was cheaper/easier than having to over pay or rush back and top-up in person.

£1.50 for 30 mins not an option in our area it’s £5 for 2 hours minimum with no change- complete rip off.

I’d definitely think twice then, though in the nearest bigger town it is about that and I have to admit it means I only go in when I have to buy lots (Christmas shopping etc). My actual small town centre is about a 20min walk (up hill on the way back, very high pollution in the summer and across a by-pass and a level crossing), so I’m willing to pay £1.50 a time to pop into Boots; and £4.50 for 2-3hrs if needed. I admit it’s taken me years to come around to, but the recent hassle of trying to use the village pharmacy (tried twice a day for a week to find a safe&legal parking spot to collect essential medications only to find they were waiting for it to come in) was the last straw.

Our council can’t afford to lose revenue from parking.
They are already in a budget deficit.
What annoys me with my local council is how many car parks are not long stay. Completely useless for the working population. Yet public transport is not good enough to stop people driving.

You’re right, and it really does work. It’s free parking where I live and town is always busy. Thriving markets, lots of independent shops (not as many as we’d like but rents are insane!). You can go for a meal as long as you like without spending a fortune on parking, it’s great!

It’s lovely when you find a random visitor in the car park looking for a parking meter and you explain that it’s free. Their look of delight is always wonderful, although I do get the odd one who doesn’t believe me and keeps looking!

It’s the feeling of being clearly ripped off that makes me feel stuff you, I’ll shop else where. I’d make more of an effort if they clearly didn’t try to rip shoppers off. I know so many others that agree. It’s madness.

Less cars cheaper public transport makes more sense

There is free parking for an hour in the smaller car parks around one of the local towns I go to, so I usually park there for the free hour and then move to Morrisons car park where it's free for two hours. I often shop in Morrisons so they do get some money out of me.

Such a shame to see the town centres as it is today, as a teenager it was absolutely thriving and it's really sad to see how dirty and desolate it has become. 😥

I hear you, but like I say, when I’ve wasted 5 hours over the course of a week trying to collect prescriptions (I collect for 3 people, monthly, so x that by 3 over the course of some months) from a pharmacy outside of town because the village has free parking, my time/stresslevels/petrol costs are worth more to me than the amount I’ve paid for parking. It’s then less of a rip off, isn’t it? It’s saving me hours and hours each month and the cost of fuel and the stress of ‘can I find a parking spot’ in an already stressful life. I also know many locally that agree with me, too, so it comes down to what’s available locally and what we individually chose to do. If you can void paying a charge because you can order on line go somewhere free at no (considerable) extra inconvenience, then great. It’s only a rip off if you have easy/free alternatives. Many of us haven’t.