Starting from 7th July which happens to be the first Saturday of the month, Saltash will offer free parking on Saturdays.
During Christmas Saltash Town Council and Saltash Town-centre Improvement Group (STIG) conducted a free parking programme. For this Cornwall was paid to make their parking places free. Consequently two-thirds of the business at town centre saw a considerable increase in their trade and some of the traders even said that their sales went up by 100 percent.
According to reports from Saltash People, Cornwall Council albeit delays, insisted on a highly enhanced price for the follow-up programme so that parking could be made free on all Saturdays during the summer and the fall.
Subsequent to this insistence, the Cornwall Council reduced their costs and promised that the Town Council could take any surplus money that could be set against the charges.
Councillor Adam Kelliya, the Chairman of STIG stated that in spite of the fact that it took quite some time, thereby holding up the programme by three months, they were happy that it had finally been accepted. He said that they were certain that it would be a great encouragement for town centre and are thankful for the backing that they got from the people, the media and some of the officers and councillors in Cornwall.
The Chairman of Saltash Gateway CIC, Liam Bradley also said that the scheme would be of terrific assistance to the businesses and the people in the town, and it would also be beneficial for the Cornwall Council as well especially as the scheme that was started during Christmas considerably helped to enhance their incomes.
Councillor Martin Gee, the Town Mayor of Saltash said that the Town Council had been working extremely hard with all it associates through the STIG to somehow help the centre. The result – the road is looking great and quite a few new shops have been started in the past couple of weeks.
Jill Male, a trader in the Town Centre and owner of Bookshelf said that the scheme started during Christmas helped her trade as well as those of many others greatly and she said that she was looking forward to the programme helping them again.
The Scheme would begin again on Saturday 7th July and this would imply that parking in the Saltash town centre car parks that are four in number would be free every weekend till the last Saturday in November. STIG then anticipates that it would be able to continue the Free Christmas Parking programme form December to the next Christmas.
