Shoppers put off by Shrewsbury parking charges hike
Monday 16th May 2011, 8:00PM BST.
Shoppers in Shrewsbury town centre are rushing back to their cars amid fears they will be slapped with a parking fine after charges were hiked, business leaders claimed today.
Officials said some shops were reporting a fall in sales since Shropshire Council introduced the higher charges last month, because shoppers were worried they would run out of time.
Simon Airey, president of Shrewsbury Business Chamber, said: “I’ve got concerns about the increased parking charges and that it was bad timing.”
John Hall, chairman of Shop in the Loop, said: “Part of the problem is that out-of-town parking is invariably free. It’s a disincentive to coming into town.”
Samantha Tharme, Shropshire Council’s team leader for traffic and transport studies, said: “The majority of car parking charges in Shrewsbury have gone up only by the agreed inflationary amount and the revenue generated by this is ploughed back into providing essential services across the county. We have removed charges after 6pm, and charges for coaches to encourage tourist stops. Also, we continue to provide a frequent, low cost Park and Ride service.”
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Nevermind Shrewsbury’s parking charges… the rest of Shropshire’s don’t make sense. On recent visits to Church Stretton and Ludlow I found the parking charges to be 50p for 1 hour, £1.10 for 2 hours and £2.40 for 4 hours… So the longer you stop there the more it costs per hour to park! Doesn’t Shropshire want the shoppers or tourism?!
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I can testify to that. £2:00 quid for 3 hours was bearable. £3:50 for the same {raven meadows being voted the worst carpark in the country} has put me off. I’ve only been to town once since the charge hike. When are the council going to stop treating the motorist as a slush fund to ‘plough back into essential services across the county?’ You are killing the town centre with your facist parking regime and slush fund ‘lets screw the motorist’ mentality. There are too many park and ride buses polluting the town centre with no one using them. Why should the motorist subsidise these too?
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Try parking in Chester, the car parks are about £2.50 every 30 mins just to try to get you to use the P&R sytem
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Easily sorted. Jump in your car. Drive for fifteen minutes and arrive at Telford for less empty shops and lower parking charges. Or if you really must shop in Shrewsbury, just get a job with the Council and you will still receive parking concessions although they are slightly less these days!
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Very true, I drove into to town and visit the bare minimum of shops to get what I needed.
I would have most certainly spent more in the shops had I not been forced to pay the ridiculous parking fees.
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I experienced the increased charges for the first time yesterday to my displeasure. I also noticed that they now also charge the same rates on a Sunday. The Park & Ride charges have also increased. Is Shropshire Council really trying to kill off Shrewsbury? I will certainly now be traveling to Telford in future.
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I’m also an ex-shopper as far as Shrewsbury is concerned. I cannot and will not pay rip-off parking charges for the limited range of shops that Shrewsbury offers. The final straw came when our wonderful council kicked concessionary pass holders off the Park & Ride at the same time that it hiked parking charges. If I’m forced to go by car I’d rather pay a couple of quid for fuel and shop in the comfort of Telford town centre than be ripped-off in Shrewsbury.
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Well you can tell the numbers in shrewsbury are down and that is down to parking charges.
The comment of a perfect park and ride okay if you are going in to shrewsbury to window shop or buy something small and do not mind abus and all the other arriva horrors that go with it. I do not bother now, I suggest shop on line perfectly safe or as stated travel 15 minutes to telford .As my friend on the mount said we even having parking wardens wondering around up here now although few parking restrictions apply at the top of the mount .
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I went shopping last week. I planned to spend a few hours in the centre to buy clothes for the family. When I saw the charges in the main carpark I ended up rushing round and back to my car in an hour. Bought the rest at meole. I just can’t afford to pay 3.50 to park for two hours. I’ll just stick to out of town shopping from now on like everyone else.
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This is disgusting. I live in the town centre, and see this problem everyday. There seems to be a campaign against shoppers at the moment, the council are doing there best to put people off coming to Shrewsbury! and why not? You may as well go to Telford, so much cheaper to park, and more shops! I was slapped with a parking ticket for parking in a new bus parking bay in barker street on Sunday morning, I have NEVER seen a bus park there!! Again, was this put there to rake in more money?????? Course it was. The rseidents are running out of places to park, and I am sick of playing dodge the warden. This is a very sad decline for the traders, shoppers, and residents of what was a great place to visit. Well done Council, you should be proud.
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As far as Shrewsbury is concerned this last rise in parking fees is only the very latest of regular and excessive increases since I came back to live in the area 9 yrs ago. From memory 2 hours in Barker St car park in mid 2002 was about £1.10 and one hour about 60p. I haven’t parked in the same carpark since it went to £2.90 about a year ago and I don’t know what it is today but even at £2.90 that represents an increase getting on for 250% during a period where inflation has been about 3% on average.
I’ve used Raven Meadows recently despite its limitation and if I can get everything done in one hour I do. In times past I’d take my time up to the 3 hours and pay the £2.50 but now forget it.
The policy is blatant and simplistic which I guess is unsurprising given the nature of local government.
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I had to pay £9.50 for two and a half hours in Chester, never again………..
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Would someone like to point out to me why there has been such a massive percentage increase in parking charges in Shrewsbury?
Do Shropshire council not like the poor cluttering up the County Town with their 4 year old + cars?
Maybe an increase of 10 pence for the 2-3 hour price would have been better (an increase in line with inflation).
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Bye Bye shrewsbury for shopping in future. when all the shops are empty and closed down who will the council rip off then to colect the revenue to pay their over inflated expenses.
bye bye shrewsbury
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Can’t use the the town centre because of the high parking charges, so I go to the retail parks and spend my money. The town centre is so anti shopper. If it was just a little cheaper, like Telford I’d pay the charges.
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