Oswestry community groups fear new overnight parking charges could hurt attendances
Community groups in Oswestry fear they will have to close when new car park charges come into force.
Oswestry Town Council operates three car parks: Central, Smithfield, and Horsemarket. Currently, charges are in effect from 8am to 6pm.
But from April 1 the charges will increase by 20 per cent, with hours extended to 8pm. There will also be an overnight charge of £1.20.
Councillor James Owen (Liberal Democrat) said it will align with the existing charges for Sundays and bank holidays, applicable between 8pm and 8am.
He also made reference to developers pointing out that town centre car parks are “suitable residential parking” because they are free at night.
Oswestry Memorial Hall, situated yards from Central Car Park, runs various activities, with many taking place in the evening.
Acting manager Paul Newman said groups have approached him saying they are worried about the impact the new parking charges will have.
“While the general increase is to be anticipated, the combined effect of extending the daytime rates to 8pm, plus an overnight rate, will harm the attendance of many of these community activities,” said Mr Newman.
“Our groups are keen to understand the reasons for the price increase, especially in light of the significant increase in town centre car park revenue.”
Kieron Laundy, who co-runs Oswestry Spiritual Centre at the hall, said many of the members come because of the parking facilities.
“But if the charges are such, they feel it is beyond what they can afford bearing in mind we have to pay the Memorial Hall our charges,” said Mr Laundy.
“If it does go ahead, we know we have to shut, which will be a shame after 25 years.”
Oswestry BID manager Adele Nightingale added that, at a recent Pubwatch meeting, there was genuine concern that many businesses will be impacted.
“They hadn’t been consulted about the proposal and felt unsupported by the town council,” she said.
Former Conservative councillor Les Maguire said that car parks were made free during the night so that people can park outside their homes.
“But even back then, it was made very difficult for emergency services to be able to get their vehicles through with parked cars on very narrow roads,” he said.
“Now there’s more cars, this could be made a lot worse.
“How is this going to be implemented? Are you going to have to spend more money on ANPR [automatic number plate recognition] cameras, or are you going to have to pay a car park warden to monitor at night time?”
Standing order rules state that agenda items cannot be brought back to council for six months once they have been voted on. Councillor Duncan Kerr (Green) unsuccessfully proposed the rule be revoked, in the hopes councillors could discuss the new charges at a meeting on Wednesday (February 11).
Councillor Fiona Wilson (Independent) said it upset her that there were people passionate about something that the council had done, but because of the standing order rule, it cannot be changed.
However, Councillor Duncan Borrowman (Lib Dems) said: “It’s a ridiculous situation where we have a standing order that calls for two thirds of the council to move a motion to suspend something for six months, but that super majority can be overturned by a simple majority.”
Town clerk Arren Roberts confirmed that only a majority was needed.
Five councillors voted in favour of revoking the six-month rule, with eight against, and three abstentions. Therefore, members were not allowed to discuss the parking charges.
