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?

You collect regular monthly prescriptions from a pharmacy - why?
I've had all my regular medications delivered by post for years. It doesn't cost anything extra, and in my case it doesn't cost anything at all.

None of your bloody business, but they include very difficult to obtain medications for significant complex conditions that are often not easy to obtain due to national shortages and it is easier to work with a local pharmacist that I can speak to in person, than deal with a faceless person on line. Is that okay with you? Or do you have any other lifestyle advice you wish to impart?

I also make the most of supermarket free parking

Why would you be taking the car in central London? Carrying heavy things maybe, but that's not every shopping trip.

And central London is not really the kind of town centre OP is talking about lol.

@fanaticalfairy

Who is paying for the upkeep of the parking areas/buildings?
Well I guess the idea is that the increased footfall would translate into more spending so then the shop lease prices would go up agd there would be fewer failed businesses and empty sites and the council would then have more money to spend on infrastructure

It's one possible interpretation. It may work. It may not.

I think that high streets need to be better allowing people with cars to come and visit. A sufficient amount of free parking validated by purchasing something in one of the shops could be really good.

I said central London but that’s more of a personal thing to be honest. It’s hard for me getting up there on the tube with my daughter. I think it would be better to have parking relatively nearby to bring in every day shoppers and finally get rid of all those American candy shops.

London is already full. It's not one of the town centres that are dying. Totally different issue.
I also can't imagine that driving around London is that much fun.

Either way, it involved subsidising and encouraging car use over public transport.

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 do you know why it happens like this?

the planning object, the large companies that want the shopping centers built go to the Secretary of State and get it passed, local authorities don’t have the money to fight this - the large companies do have the money - that’s the story in a nutshell

Free parking in a city with great public transport and bike lanes and numerous bike hire schemes, and where thousands of people don't own cars?

Yes, not everyone wants to ride a bike. Plus you just need everyday shoppers to be incentivised to buy from the shops rather than tourists or destination shoppers who are only coming for something specific

No. Internet shopping is too entrenched now to be overcome by free parking.

Can you not use buses and tubes like other shoppers?. Private car ownership is falling in london.

Unsurprisingly, easier access for cars doesn't make a place nicer to be, especially when you also have to build the infrastructure to handle all those cars coming in to use that lovely free parking.

This is Utrecht in the Netherlands before and after the country realised how stupid they were being.

As everyone else has been saying on the thread, accessible towns are important. Cars aren't.

Not everyone wants to breathe your car fumes.

Totally agree.

I read so many frothy anti-smoker posts, and often wonder how many of the people ranting about cigarette smoke cheerfully get into their fossil-fuel-burning tanks with no sense of irony or self-awareness

(Not encouraging smoking, just pointing out the huge blind spot and weird defensiveness around car ownership).

Maybe for council and shop car parks but why would private companies ever offer free parking?

Utrecht offers very regular cheap buses, trains, multi story car parks @ 3.5 euros per hour, discounted for longer stays, 5 euro daily charge for covered park n rides...

Plus Holland has a higher average wage than the UK.

We in the UK do not have cheap and reliable trains and buses, the only way most people can get into a Town is by driving.

So by banning/limiting cars, via limited parking and high charges, you are very effectively closing down the Town centre, because the alternatives Holland has don't exist here in the UK and we don't have the money to provide them.

For many towns, its now too late, the measures you and others want will ensure the rest go the same way.

Most towns i know, have parking areas away from the high street.

Honestly, all those reasons that "it couldn't possibly be done here!" we're all floated here too... Then they did it anyway, and it turned out that creating more attractive options than driving saves a ton of money and creates a healthier, wealthier population.

I totally agree with you OP. I live near 2 reasonably sized market towns, one with abundant free parking and one with zero free parking. The difference in the High Streets is stark, one bustling and healthy with loads of independent coffee shops and retailers and the other stuffed with betting shops and charity shops. I get completely fed up with having to pay £1.20 to drop off dry cleaning and another £1.20 to collect it.

It’s not like living in an urban environment where there is an option of public transport.

Look i agree with you BUT no one is suggesting we do what other European towns and cities have done, indeed min fares for buses have gone up to £3 & even that is going soon.... UK has the most expensive trains in Europe & the most unreliable too.

Its not a question of "we couldn't do that" its more that no one has any money to do these desirable things.

So what do we do instead? Either get people into towns anyway possible OR let towns die?

I do think cities and large towns need to be considered separately from smaller towns.

For smaller towns, free parking schemes are likely to make a big difference and shouldn't be too problematic in terms of space, congestion, etc. In fact it can even reduce the number of miles driven if people can use their local town rather than drive to the city or retail park.

For cities then good park and ride schemes plus good public transport is a much more important point solution.

Agree op. People would do click and collect with stuff, take stuff back and then whilst there pick up a few bits and a coffee.
my local town do free parking at Christmas, it is rammed.

i don’t think it needs to be entirely free, just the first hour

Park&Ride is good if there are enough buses. Oxford's system is brilliant.

We had secure bike parking installed in our town centre recently and it's 100% utilised most weekends.

The last thing most towns need is more cars.