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The Bradworthy Wind Turbines
Councillor
Christie's Weblog
From your Torridge District Councillor Peter Christie
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26th November '06
District councillors have finally received the full report of the Council’s Scrutiny Committee into the impacts the new car park charges have had on the area. Councillor Alan Bewes is the chairman of Scrutiny and he presented the findings – which in some ways were very surprising. Perceptions among the public (and many councillors) are that usage of the car parks has fallen – with many Bideford traders feeling that that the new charges have lead directly to a downturn in their takings. The statistics reveal a different pattern. Comparing the period April to August for both 2005 and 2006 it seems ticket sales have actually risen – though this could be because more residents are buying tickets from 4 p.m. onwards – it did, of course, use to be free. When the September figures were examined, however, ticket sales had ‘dropped rather dramatically particularly in the centre of Bideford’ for 2006. The Scrutiny Committee explained this by a general fall in tourism in the area – though, rather oddly, this didn’t extend to Torrington and Holsworthy.
As to the effects of the new charges on shopping the overall finding was that ‘parking charges have done very little, if anything, to damage sales.’ I suspect that traders in town may still dispute this but we shall see. One good thing was that the committee’s findings lead them to recommend no ‘changes for 2007-2008’ but they did have two recommendations. The first was to charge £1 for all day parking at Bone Hill, Northam and in New Street, Torrington – to match the fee charged in the Cattle Market, Bideford. Councillors were unsure whether this would be of great help to traders as it was revealed that only 985 tickets had been sold at the Cattle Market since the beginning of August when charging was introduced – a total of about 10 a day – so not a big earner for Torridge or a well used amenity for car drivers!
I raised the possibility of reinstating free parking after 4 p.m. which was something I fought hard and successfully for at the request of Bideford Chamber of Commerce some years ago. I was therefore somewhat surprised to be informed that the current Chamber hadn’t asked for it to be brought back.
The Appledore Resident’s Association asked for all Winter charging to be discontinued – but this was rapidly passed over as it would cost Torridge some £5000 and lead to similar requests from everywhere else. Northam town council asked for free parking for parents picking up and dropping off children at Appledore and Northam schools – as already happens at St.Mary’s in Bideford.
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