Calls on county council to review parking price hike blamed for 'lower footfall'

This is due to fears that Powys town centre businesses are suffering as people avoid shopping there due to the cost of parking.

The car parking fees were increased as part of the 2023/2024 budget by the Liberal Democrat/Labour/Green administration which runs the council.

Councillors from both Independents for Powys and the Independent group have joined forces and submitted a motion to be debated at the meeting on Thursday, July 20.

The proposal will be put forward by Councillor Gareth E Jones of the Independents for Powys group and will be seconded by Councillor Graham Breeze of the Independent group.

Councillor Jones said: “Removing the ‘up to one hour’ ticket option in long stay car parks across the county has resulted in a 150 per cent increase from £1 to £2.50 for someone just popping to the shops for a few things or for a quick coffee with friends.”

The intention of the price hike to generate an extra £50,000 for the council is disputed by the councillors.

They claim that applying the increased charges to the 2021-2022 car park usage figures would make around £317,000 for the council, more than six times the financial target.

Councillor Jones said: “That extra money can be used to offset any review costs in time for the next full council meeting in October.”

Councillor Breeze said: “Businesses across the county are reporting lower footfall and are blaming the increases in parking charges.

“Fewer people are using our car parks and vehicles are being parked on housing estates or in hospital car parks.

“The new charges are certainly not fair on towns where there are no short-stay parking facilities.

“We need to encourage people to visit Powys, but these new charges are doing the exact opposite.”

The motion calls for: “A full review of the car park charges and category of all county council run car parks in the authority with the results and recommendations of that review being brought back to the next council meeting on October 5.”

It asks for councillors to be give a “fully costed estimate” of the income for this year when compared with the base budget and any details of budget virements needed.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands that the financial analysis of the motion will say that it would cost the council around £40,000 to pay for consultants who specialise in parking management to do the review.

The car park price hike is one of many ideas that council chiefs produced to try and bridge a funding gap of £16.4 million in this year’s budget which was voted through last February.

Builth Wells Town Council has received a number of complaints from traders, residents and visitors about the increased cost of parking in long stay car parks at The Groe and Smithfield Road.

Builth Wells Mayor Councillor Mark Hammond said while County Councillor Jackie Charlton has said that the one-hour option is still available in the county’s short-stay car parks, they are only in Brecon, Llandrindod, Knighton, Welshpool, Newtown and Hay-on-Wye and are no use to Builth.

Councillor Hammond said; “Councillor Charlton has said that by encouraging people to park in our towns for longer, she anticipates more activity on the high street, with shoppers making the most of their visit.

“I am sorry to say that this is wishful thinking at its worst. Significant numbers of residents, and people who live close by, use the car parks for short duration trips into town for things such as prescriptions, meat from the butchers, and groceries. They now have to add an extra cost to these visits.

“Visitors who are driving through will be less inclined to stop to shop around the town for refreshments etc, if it’s going to cost £2.50 before they have even got out of the car park.

“At a time when the cost of living crisis and mortgage rates are causing people stress and hardship, as well as our local businesses having to battle against online retailers, surely its only common sense to either reduce car parking charges or make the first two hours free to attract people into the town?”

Councillor Hammond said the council could save £300,000 by abandoning their ‘reimagining public services project’.

Builth Wells Town Council has agreed to work with Builth County Councillor Jeremy Pugh to challenge the county council on the issue.