Herefordshire Council U-Turn on Parking Charges

[Hereford Voice]

Herefordshire Council have made a u-turn from last week when they reintroduced parking charges only offering a free 30 minute window as we reported in this article however, today there is some better news for local businesses as the council have now completely lifted the charges altogether for the best part of a month to help businesses recover from the Covid-19 lockdown.

Parking charges lifted temporarily in town and city car parks to support business

To support local business during this particularly difficult time and encourage people to visit their high street rather than shop on-line, Herefordshire Council is offering free parking on street and in council car parks* from Saturday 27 June until Friday 24 July 2020.

Cllr John Harrington, Cabinet member for infrastructure and transport explains:

Quote

“After listening to the concerns expressed by parish and town councils, by ward members and particularly those from businesses and Hereford BID, I’ve taken the decision to reintroduce free parking for four weeks, to help give retailers and the hospitality trade a much needed boost at this critical time.

“We hope to be able to follow this with a scheme later in the year with incentives to encourage people to stay for longer for less money, encouraging them to spend more time supporting our retail and hospitality outlets, particularly our independent businesses.

“Like every other council across the country we have parking charges for several good reasons. Charges help us to encourage people to travel in a different way, by walking or cycling for example. For those that want to or must drive, varying those charges allows us to encourage shoppers and other visitors to park outside the urban centres by charging them less for staying longer, whilst those that want to park right in the centres are expected to pay more. Charges keep spaces turning over especially in the City and town centres.

“Ideally we would love people to really think about travelling a different way in town, especially when you consider for example that over 50% of the residents of Hereford travel less than two miles to shop or commute to work. We have all been encouraged by the boost in walking and cycling lockdown brought and we intend to support those ambitions in any way we can whilst recognising some folks must travel in by car.      

“Herefordshire Council has made a commitment to support local business, encourage people to visit our historic city and market towns, and buy locally. After years of austerity and with challenging financial times ahead we cannot afford to provide free parking forever as we use this income to subsidise public transport and school buses. So, in the longer term we will be looking at other ways to encourage people to safely visit our wonderful city and historic market towns. There is an opportunity to look to do things in a different way while supporting local business.”

Resident parking and other restrictions will be enforced.

*Excludes Friar St Military Club car park, at their request

[Paul Jones]

This is all well and good but they will need to recoup the lost money elsewhere to pay for other important services.

[megilleland]

46 minutes ago, Paul Jones said:

This is all well and good but they will need to recoup the lost money elsewhere to pay for other important services.

Interesting statistics about the Herefordshire Labour Market should show where the money will or could come from in the future.

[Irena Sulecka]

Don't complain when the prices or community charges go up to cover this free period 

[Alex]

I was in the city centre today and I cannot see that this has made much difference, car park in West St was virtually empty 

[Peter Thomas-Cruttwell]

On 03/07/2020 at 10:45, Alex said:

I was in the city centre today and I cannot see that this has made much difference, car park in West St was virtually empty 

It was dead in town on Sunday, we parked in the car park in Bath Street but we could have easily parked in Broad Street. The shops were quiet, so not convinced that the free parking has made that much difference.