Chard is one of the towns that are applying to be a Portas Pilot town however they are facing issues with the decision taken to enhance parking fees in order to increase the revenue of the council. The decision was to increase car parking fees in all district car parking areas by 10p for a one hour parking period from the month of April.
As per the Portas Review, all local regions should utilize free controlled parking schemes to assist town centres and recommend a parking league table.
The owner of Top Togs in Hollyrood Street, Joe Bray, offered a presentation at a meeting where traders met the Chard Town council on Monday night and stated that 85,000 pounds of the money from the Portas Pilot Kitty would be utilized to sponsor free parking in the town centre.
Mr. Bray stated that if people could park their vehicles free, they would at least come to see what was on offer for sale.
The also said that the district council had to understand that they were one of the main culprits of driving business away and suffocating town centres, so as to create free car parks out of town.
He stated that it was the councils that hiked up the car parking charges of the town centre every year and then tried to decipher why the town centre was looking barren.
Two suggestions that came up during the meting were for providing free parking every Wednesdays and Saturdays or the first three hours of free parking on any day.
A representative of the district council stated that if free parking was offered, the expenses involved in maintaining car parks remodelling them whenever require etc, would fall on all taxpayers in the district, meaning that they would have to pay more by way of taxes and he stated that it would be unfair on those people did not own vehicles.
He said that the council was not yet ready to provide free parking as recommended at this juncture and said that it was implemented in one town then it would have to be implemented In all other towns too.
