County council is killing town centres - claim

A Newtown town and county councillor has taken a swipe at a Powys County Council report into a review of car parking charges throughout the county.

Last week, it was revealed that a long-delayed report on price increases at county council car parks, specifically at the Back Lane and Gravel car parks in Newtown, indicated the possibility of further price hikes in certain car parks if hourly charges were reintroduced to some long-stay parking areas.

Cllr Peter Lewing, a Conservative county and town councillor, hit out at the report last week.

Now, in a further comment on the report, due to go before the Cabinet, he said the county council was killing town centres such as Newtown's.

He said: "Our town centres are slowly dying from declining footfall, and we need to do everything we can to help them – all that higher car park charges will achieve is to encourage shoppers to stay away from our high streets and either shop online or travel to shopping centres where free parking is available.
 
"It has taken far too long for this report to be produced, and it appears to ignore the recommendations of the working group – what a waste of time, effort and taxpayers’ money (almost £50,000)."

He added: "Looking at the reasoning for the counter recommendations in the report it gives the impression that the working group was used as a cover for this Liberal Democrat/Labour led administration to raise more funding (some £402,000) to pay for their poor decision making across the council as a whole rather than a real desire to listen to and implement the working group’s recommendations which were based on their communities needs and views.
 
The feeling of the pointlessness of the working group is further compounded by the statement that “petrol and diesel cars must be curtailed in the long term."

"I hope I am wrong but that implies to me that political ideology was always going to win and that the working group would never get what they really asked for which was a reintroduction of the 1-hour tariff to encourage visitors to our town centres.
 
"Whilst the report acknowledges the importance and concern to the working group (comprising members from across Powys) of its recommendation asking for the reintroduction of the one-hour tariff into long stay car parks, none of the advantages of doing so are listed and I wonder if a balanced decision can be reached without this, for example:

- reintroduction would support high street footfall
- it would encourage pop and shop visits thus supporting town centres and local shops
- Fosters a greater willingness to pay as more aligned with people’s needs
- any possible reduction in revenue could be balanced out by encouraging shorter visits and higher turnover
 
"The report acknowledges that free nighttime parking helps the nighttime economy – so surely cheaper day time parking would also benefit the daytime economy."

Cllr Lewington also hit out at plans not to allow free parking during certain events or in the lead up to Christmas.

"I cannot believe that free parking for events will cease when following a question from a member of public at full council on 20th July 2023 who asked if Powys could show some goodwill by offering free parking on Saturdays in December in the run up to Christmas the portfolio holder agreed this could be beneficial. Why the change of heart now?"

The report will be discussed this week.