Are people who walk into Melksham being asked to subsidise parking?
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2011-08-09 07:35:24 - Graham Ellis
Views in this post are personal, and do not neccesarily reflect the position of any of the organisations of which I am a member
We could achieve so much more in our town and area with a bit more joined up thinking. Save money, save hassle too. That's noy to say that we don't achieve a lot already; I popped along to last night's Town Council meeting to sit in the audience as there were a couple of items of interest on the agenda - relating to car parking - (a) on "TRO"s - Traffic Regulation Orders - which are proposed for some areas of Melksham, bringing additional yellow lines and parking bays to many, and removing restrictions in a few and (b) on car parking in car parks and in particular the town traders' scheme for refunding the first hour of parking.
As the Wiltshire Council Officer spoke about the traffic orders, I was struck at the narrowness of the remit he had. "It's not my role to look at whether this will encourage people to use the car parks instead - I just have to consider emergency service, waste collection access, traffic safety and flow ...". "I only look where there's an issue - I can't consider other roads which are very likely to become clogged up with parking traffic as a result of the restrictions proposed". "I can't do residents parking schemes in this - although we will be considerate of their needs; they may propose a scheme if they wish". I am paraphrasing somewhat here ... but there seems to be a danger of measures moving problems rather than curing them - a stick but no carrot - and with a minimum two year gap proposed to let the scheme settle before it's revisited.
The Town Traders have picked up the idea floated by Ben Anderson and taken forward subsequently by the Chamber of Commerce with the parking folks at Wiltshire Council with regard to parking refunds, and their scheme is up and running. Traders involved refund the first hour of parking charges if you spend a certain amount with then - it may be 10, 15 or 20 pounds or some other amount (I saw 30 pounds mentioned somewhere). I applaud the scheme - in fact I have my correspondence going back to late April / early May with Wiltshire Council, when the design of new tickets for the machines being installed in June was discussed. I'll admit to being less that thrilled that we've not been able to do it through joined-up thinking. And I'm amazed at the cheek of the scheme's organisers in asking the Town Council to pay them back in turn for the money they refund on parking.
Many customer facing Melksham businesses are not in the town, and some in the town have their own parking spaces for customers to use without charge while visiting the premises. But these spaces really aren't "free" even if they're described as such. They're provided by the business as a service, and paid for out of the business's income. I have been asked in my role with the Chamber of Commerce, by a senior representative of such a business, why the taxpayer should subsidise traders who haven't / don't provide parking. The answer, of course, is that no-one wants to take a position in which they can be blamed for a town centre business failing ... so I wouldn't be surpised (but would be a bit disappointed) to see 20p or so being paid back to the traders by the council for each ticket stub handed in. Which really means that the domestic rate payer in Melksham is still paying for the parking - but in another way. And of course it means that the payment is illogically spread. People who walk into town are paying for others to park. And people who ride the town bus (and pay their fare) are paying again for others to park.
The various councils do great things. And if we had joined up thinking, we could do much greater things. But last night's meeting wasn't attended by a single trader or representative who could speak for the scheme. It's fantastic that they've joined together amongst themselves / engaged - goodness, the Chamber has tried hard to engage but with us too there's a tendency to ask for the benefits of membership (without paying 17p a day to be a member) and there has to be a point at which the Chamber reminds everyone that it works for its members, then for other traders in the town who have chosen not to join, and then for the town as a whole.
If Melksham Town Council is minded to pay 20p back on parking tickets as a support for businesses, can I encourage them instead to come up with a scheme which supports all businesses and all visitors, rather than discriminating in favours of the driver and the business that hasn't provided for its customers - how about businesses counting the numbers in through their doors and being paid 2p per person? I don't really expect that to work - too much admin - but it would be fairer, wouldn't it?