Market Drayton sales fall blamed on parking charges
Wednesday 22nd June 2011, 11:00AM BST.
Retailers in Market Drayton have seen trade plummet by as much as 40 per cent since controversial parking charges were introduced.
It comes as Shropshire Councillor Jon Tandy issued a call for parking fees in Shrewsbury town centre to be reviewed after an outcry from traders who say they are being crippled by dwindling visitor numbers.
Business leaders in Market Drayton are compiling like-for-like turnover figures comparing trade in the first few months of this year to the same period last year.
And they say results so far show a decline in the amount of money passing through retailers’ tills since Shropshire Council imposed new charges on all town car parks on April 1. The council today said it would be happy to discuss concerns.
Andy Brown, chairman of Market Drayton Chamber of Trade, revealed he has asked about 10 of his members to monitor the impact of the charges on levels of trade. He said while only a handful of businesses have responded so far, all have reported a drop in trade of between 15 and 40 per cent.
Mr Brown, who runs the Sport United shop in Shropshire Street, said he hoped the figures might prompt a rethink at Shirehall.
Councillor Tandy has put forward a motion to tomorrow’s full meeting of the unitary council, for Shrewsbury parking charges to be discussed.
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It is no co-incidence that all the towns that have had excessive parking charge increases are reporting falling tade levels whilst Ellesmere who haven’t are reporting no such discernable fall.
Perhaps Shropshire Council will make this connection and appreciate that increasing car parks charges this way actually damages the local economy and the laws of diminishing returns will ultimately apply.
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I thought that Market Drayton (and Whitchurch etc) had the same parking charges introduced as Ellesmere? Perhaps other forces at play (recession, rising fuel costs, consecutive bank holiday weekends etc, etc).
Statistics can be made to say whatever you want them to :-)
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I thought in Elesmere they had brokered a deal of 10p per hour because the traders kicked off but I may be wrong. However the law of diminishing returns will still apply.
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So, this drop in local trade is nothing to do with the general decline in retail sales this year or anything to do with people having less disposable income due to above-inflation rises in the prices of food, gas, electricity and fuel?
It’s all to easy to find a scapegoat and it looks like the traders in the town of my birth are doing just that.
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Ellesmere has only been running for a month or so, it will not be long before they have the same problems because 10p will soon become 80p plus for 2 hours! The car parks are empty now and the town is not looking that busy, but at least if your visiting for the day you’ll be able to find a parking space easily
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Seriously!? This is the same Market Drayton where it is free for 1 hour, 10p for up to three hours and then £1.80 for up to ten hours, and this has caused a 40% drop in takings? I know times are hard, but 10p. Seriously?
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That is only on the Towers Lawn Car park which is not ideally located for anybody with any mobility issues etc, the closer car parks are £0.50 for the first hour.
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So the 40% of people who have stopped visiting have mobility issues AND cannot afford to pay £1.20 for three hours? Seriously?
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I paid £1.20 for 3 hours on the car park next B & M bargains on saturday
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yet again shropshire council hindering not helping the area
they are runinng this county with over development of ugly modernity we need tougher planning rules in the conservation areas and countryside and yet simultaneoulsy there is too much red tape from licencing to parking and too much tax which is hurting people and restricting business
they need to scale back the regulatory services and use the savings to fund tax breaks for working people, shoppers, tourists and businesses
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Gosh, would it be impolite to yell ‘Told you so’ into the ears of MD’s Town & Shropshire’s Councillors? We banged on about this as the likely outcome way back when the original ‘pilot’ parking charges scheme was introduced in Market Drayton. Did our Town Councillors listen to us & use their powers to axe the scheme …. heck no, buried their heads as usual.
Now we are faced with out of town people only using Morrisons for a 1 stop shop. What’s the betting Morrisons bring in parking charges for the 1st time when the new extension is finished to stop people using their park & walking into town. Lidls now have their limited free parking restrictions enforced by a Security Patrol too.
I’ve noticed a big increase in Tesco & Asda home shopping delivery vans working round my ‘not so affluent’ patch. Parking charges & car fuel price rise = Coincidence?
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This should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone with functioning grey matter between their lug-holes !!!
For small town enterprises to compete against neighbouring mega-tropolis neon complexes with acres of free concrete, councils should be making it an attractive propostion for people to visit regularly, not charging them out.
Even the mighty Telford ‘same as every other high street’ mega-mall saw a dramatic decrease in footfall when parking charges were introduced there, and last reports I’d seen it’s never fully recovered.
I can actually understand why there are parking charges in place in Shrewsbury, it’s a very crowded, compact small town centre area with a great number of listed and conserved buildings which need to be looked after – thats why when I go ther I’m more than happy to use the park and ride service, same as in Chester or York …. but Ellesmere, Market Drayton and other such market towns will undoubtedly collapse if Shropshire Council get their way.
They should recall the uproar at Telford & Wrekin when they tried charging in Wellington and Newport ……. and the chaos as people started parking all over the side streets, leaving the car parks deserted.
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As a resident of Market Drayton I am sure that this is true and we have campaigned against parking charges for some time. There is also the fact that Shropshire Council have closed the only decent toilets by the ‘bus station and now propose to stop running the only ‘bus service that goes from Shrewsbury to Hanley via Market Drayton.
If the Council needs to make cuts that affect the people like this why do they not challenge the government who have given money to India and to China. We should all protest strongly and stop paying our Council Tax. Bring on the Revolution!
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How else are we going to fund Mr Ryley’s £180,000 wage plus expenses (even after a 5% self imposed reduction)? The council and the government need to help British buisness – not hamper it – it is the only way to get us out of the recession. In the meantime the rest of us that live near town centres have to put up with the addtional burden of on-street parking by those that cannot afford the 10p charge.
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Why does a website today state all but 2 car parks are free to park in from 6am to 6pm?
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I had major concerns about the car park rises. As one other contributor says told you so!
Market Drayton does seem to unfortunately be the guinea pig of such schemes, the original trial charges being introduced years ago when parking was free elsewhere.
I firmly feel that Drayton is the poor relation of Shropshire. We are constantly let down by our authority.
visit the local website someone has set-up to find out more and to make your point.
http://www.theshropshireforum.co.uk
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Guinea Pig? Why am I getting the impression the people of Much Wenlock are like an uncontacted tribe. This may come as a shock, but charges for parking your car are fairly common in the rest of the country. You aren’t taking part in a trial, you are joining the rest of us in the real world.
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Hmmm. Site under construction.
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i cant see the economics of colleccting 10 p stacks up especially with over paid public sector workers doing the collecting this cannobt be profitable and just job creation
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