On consultations, car parking, and Melksham town centre
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2011-02-17 08:09:10 - Graham Ellis
On Consultations. Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. And wash the baby while the water is hot.
There are some consultations around which aren't worth the "paper they are written on" - or should I say that aren't worth the bandwidth and time they take up - those consultations are the the ones where the [name body] is required to consult so that it can tick a box and say that it has done so. The [body] staff involved have probably already made a decision, and have phrased the questions to get the answer they want anyway, and have left off options in multiple choice questions that would give an alternative answer. I've even seen a consultation in Wiltshire where the reply cards were pre-ticked so that you could their way (a previous organization, not any current one).
However ... some are worthwhile and can either shape the way things are to come, or force staff to take a second look. But even with these, remember that a consultation request isn't a promise that what you ask for in your reply will happen. Firstly, lots of contrary views will be given and they can't all happen. Secondly, views are sought on very complex matters from people who aren't experts in those matters, and a very great number of impractical ideas / ideas which would have significant and in considered (by the originator) side effects; this is a tricky one as few of us have the time to study matters in depth so that we can give fully informed responses, which will tend to be flooded by less considered ones anyway.
Consultations tend to come up in all sorts of form, and a long time before things happen. This is necessary so that things can be worked out in total and any changes can happen in a controlled way. I have a very great sympathy with folks - such as those who are working on the current parking cost changes across Wiltshire - who sought inputs a year ago. In Melksham, via the Chamber of Commerce, we publicized this, discussed it in the meeting, fed back - but, oh dear, so few people came along that we had no mandate with which to should loudly. It must be highly frustrating for the people with the decisions on their plates to get, after the fact, the inputs they would have really appreciated, asked for, and could have considered realistically a year ago.
On Parking prices. Melksham is in the third band.
In Wiltshire, new charges in council owned car parks will be banded by town. Salisbury is band 1; highest price. Then Chippenham and Trowbridge, just over a pound for the first hour. Then Market towns such as Melksham, 40p for first hour. Then "little places like Mere" Figures quoted are for town centre; there are lower rates in non-central car parks.
Car parks which are not council owned / have some limiting covenant on them may differ. These include the car park at the market hall in Trowbridge (which remains free) and parking at places like Melksham House in Melksham - privately owned, and looking like a bargain for allday parking come April.
If each town were to manage its own car parks / spaces, you would have an awful lot more staff involved, organization, higher costs that would have to be recouped somehow. The costs, etc, of running car parks, and their incomes is not easily available data, nor is the modeling used to come up with the new costs. It is expected there will be a temporary drop off in numbers parking (I am told) but I presume that someone has worked out / forecast that it will come back.
Should they wish, there is nothing to stop individual towns running car parks / parking, ditto individual stores or groups of stores. And if stores provide parking, it's not really going to be free, it's simply that you pay for it in the price of the good you buy. Perhaps that's such an efficient way to make the income needed to maintain the car park that the cost goes unnoticed ;-)
On Town Centers
Melksham has an awful lot going for it, and is vibrant and has a wide range compared to many most others in Wiltshire. But that is comparative, and not an absolute measurement and there's a lot more that could be done. You may be surprised to learn just what a small proportion of Chamber of Commerce members are 'shopkeepers' in the town. You might also be surprised to know that this isn't just a Melksham thing - it's right across the 17 Chambers in Wessex.
The Chamber sees its role as looking after the interests of its members. And, below that, looking after the interests of other businesses in the town who have chosen not to join (bit cheeky really - "no, I won't join but I want you to help me / us"). And then the interests of the town / area as a whole. If storekeepers want a bigger say, then they really need to join, or work with their own association of some sort and have that make separate, orchestrated inputs to town and Unitary council. I've been in Melksham for 10 years; I understand that such an association existed a few years prior to that, but it faded away.
Life and business is changing; the proportion of shopping down in town centres has dropped, and I'm not going to make any predictions for the future - but I will say that different towns are heading in different directions. Some are very lively, and with a specializations be it food, antiques, books, tourism drawing people in. Others work on a more general basis attracting people to shop in the 'old fashioned way'. And in others you see the shops turning into residences, with face to face business shifting elsewhere. Question - where is Melksham headed?