A bid to bring free parking to car parks in Nantwich and across Cheshire East as lockdown eases has not been ruled out by council leaders, writes Ethan Davies.
Nantwich South and Stapeley Cllr Peter Groves asked a Cabinet meeting today (March 9) if CEC would bring in free parking in May, June, and July to boost the borough’s town centres.
In reply, highways cabinet member Cllr Laura Crane said the idea was being “looked at” but added financial implications had still yet to be worked out.
Cllr Crane said: “We will be looking at that and parking will be an option with the recovery plans.
“I think it is really important [to ask] where will the money come from.
“We are currently running at around £12 million short of just standing still [in the highways budget].
“We have to be careful with that.
“I completely understand where you are coming from on encouraging people back into the town centre and free parking may be an option.”
Cllr Groves’ Conservative colleagues launched a similar bid to suspend parking charges for Christmas at the December cabinet meeting.
It was rejected by the ruling Labour-Independent coalition, who argued footfall data showed free parking was not linked to town centres being busy.
CEC currently allows town and parish councils to allocate four days a year for their car parks to be free.
As a further comment to my earlier letter, if all the county had adopted the same parking charge as Nantwich, would the deficit of “around £12 million” be a surplus of the same amount? I’m sure that one of the council employees “working from home” could reach for a calculator!
It isn’t a parking charge it is a parking Tax.
The shortfall in budget is a political one. The politicians decide what gets allocated where.
When was the Parking charge introduced on the Civic Hall car park? At that time, why was it not introduced for the whole county at the same rate per hour?
It should have also been free during lockdown, as there is not much open and people are only going out for essential shopping, hav ing to pay to park for what at times is only half an hour does not seem fair
Why would you pay to park if you are only going into town for half an hour. Park in Morrisons. It’s free for 90 minutes.
I was referring to people with limited mobility who do not fall under the disabled parking scheme