The following link is to an article in the Sunday Express.

As you will see Eric Pickles is wanting to "revive Britian's High Street" and he is very concerned that a recent survey revealed that "7 in 10 people intentionally avoided shopping areas with extortionate parking prices".

Finally....somebody is waking up!

However.......far too late!!!

He needs to start asking serious questions about the introduction of Section 54 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and this awful part of the Act will KILL THE HIGH STREET and force shoppers to use the internet for their purchases.

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/351893/Government-launch-war-on-council-parking-charge/

Not sure how successful he will be.

It is well known that Councils as a deliberate policy have less parking meters than necessary for the number of cars that require a parking place. And they fail to increase the number of meters each year despite

an average 10% increase in the annual amount of traffic on the road.This has the obvious effect of motorists incurring penalty notices of £40 or £50 if paid within two weeks. That is where the Councils make their money on parking. Even at £6 per hour around London where I live, the Council will not get fat on that. They need the fines to make it worthwhile.

It's the fines that cause the problem as it takes the very money out of people's pockets that would have been spent in the shops.

But the Councils have got so used to getting such a large chunk of regular revenue from fines that they probably cannot afford to cut back.

I guess that if they do cut back on their meter charges, they may well up the number of wardens to offset this. There would be little point in

cutting back on wardens since that would not only reduce the amount raised from the fines but would lead to an increase in unemployment

payments that would have to be paid to the out of work wardens.

Not sure how successful he will be.

It is well known that Councils as a deliberate policy have less parking meters than necessary for the number of cars that require a parking place. And they fail to increase the number of meters each year despite

an average 10% increase in the annual amount of traffic on the road.This has the obvious effect of motorists incurring penalty notices of £40 or £50 if paid within two weeks. That is where the Councils make their money on parking. Even at £6 per hour around London where I live, the Council will not get fat on that. They need the fines to make it worthwhile.

 

It's the fines that cause the problem as it takes the very money out of people's pockets that would have been spent in the shops.

 

But the Councils have got so used to getting such a large chunk of regular revenue from fines that they probably cannot afford to cut back.

I guess that if they do cut back on their meter charges, they may well up the number of wardens to offset this. There would be little point in

cutting back on wardens since that would not only reduce the amount raised from the fines but would lead to an increase in unemployment

payments that would have to be paid to the out of work wardens.

Complete rubbish! What proof have you Councils are deliberately removing meters? The vast majority of Councils make far more money from 'paid for' parking than for yellow lines, more PCNs are actually issued for non payment, over staying or permit contraventions than yellow lines. Even your own argument is flawed in that you state if they reduced parking charges they wouldn't be able to afford as many wardens, when you have already said they make no money from meters and yellow lines are a money spinner which obviously requires CEOs to enforce. I find it ironic that people state they are avoiding High streets due to an inability to afford the increased parking charges yet at the same time the biggest growth sector in the High st is coffee chains that charge £3 for a coffee in a cardboard cup.

Complete rubbish! What proof have you Councils are deliberately removing meters?

G&M I normally find your posts to be correct if a bit abrupt for my taste. Having read the post you quote I find no mention of removing parking meters just the lack of more parking meters. To my mind the lack of new meters could be due to the faf around to set these up through the council IE changes to road rule for these roads.

dpick

This bloke has two mouths on one face, one that talks populist rubbish and one that does the exact opposite behind closed doors.

All lip service and no action.

G&M I normally find your posts to be correct if a bit abrupt for my taste. Having read the post you quote I find no mention of removing parking meters just the lack of more parking meters. To my mind the lack of new meters could be due to the faf around to set these up through the council IE changes to road rule for these roads.

 

dpick

I did misread the post but stand by my view. Even if roads get busier they are not getting bigger so where are these meters going to be placed? Surely if there are more cars on the road there is going to be less space to park? The primary purpose of a road is a public highway to get from A to B not a public car park and maintaining that right of way and the safety on it is the main priority of the LA not worrying about where people are going to park. Times are changing and people can no longer just expect to stop the car outside their destination and leave it there. More on street parking encourages more non vital journeys and more congestion. Why anyone in London other than a tradesman would pay congestion charge and £6/hr to park when there is ample public transport 24hrs a day is beyond me. If you put free/cheap parking in the high street why are the shop staff not going to park there taking up all the spaces rather than walk from elsewhere? Traffic management is not just about deciding how people are going to park to shop its about creating a balance between ALL road users.