A strongly-worded letter from the Chamber of Commerce’s retail committee chairman slams the proposal to introduce more car parking charges in central Douglas and calls on the government minister to have a complete rethink on the policy.
Stephen Bradley accuses the government of picking easy targets with new town centre parking charges and says owners of businesses in central Douglas were ‘flabbergasted’ at the measures. ‘Our customers have less cash in their pockets and our costs are rising faster than revenues,’ he says.
‘Our part of the economy cannot sustain further increases in costs from whatever corner. Such charges will not just be unpopular, they will threaten the very existence of many small retail and restaurant businesses.’
In his letter, Mr Bradley suggests the burden should be borne by ‘more profitable sectors’, adding: ‘Increasing car parking charges without considering the wider economic impact on a fragile service sector is pure madness and totally unacceptable.’ He describes the measures as ‘ill-considered knee-jerk decisions’ and claims the effects on the town centre could be irreversible, taking significantly more money out of the high street than they will generate in revenue. He also cites examples of towns in the UK have made a conscious move back to providing at least some free car parking to boost town centre trade in the light of the competition from out of town retail parks and the internet.
‘Reduce car parking charges and town centre footfall increases, increase footfall and retail turnover increases. With retail turnover comes investment and jobs; the reverse is unfortunately true.’
The new Infrastructure Minister Phil Gawne MHK last month announced a string of measures which included reducing the duration of the angled parking on Loch Promenade in Douglas from two hours to one and charging drivers to park on the promenade walkway.
Concessions granted after protests, will allow free parking for Thursday late night shopping in the run up to Christmas and on Saturdays before the charges kick in fully in January.
Mr Bradley cited the examples of Swindon, Rotherham, Bolton. Middlesbrough and Oldham, which have tried out different types of free parking schemes, successfully generating more town centre business.
Among the measures he has called on for Douglas are free promenade parking for the first two hours, free promenade parking at the weekend and free promenade parking any day after 3pm.
The measures would apply both at the roadside and on the walkway. He also calls for free parking after 3pm and at the weekend in the DoI’s Chester Street car park.
Douglas East MHK Brenda Cannell whose constituency includes the seafront and town centre and is therefore most affected by the proposals said she was furious not to have been consulted in advance and is asking questions about the matter in Keys this week.
Mrs Cannell wants to know when the results of a parking consultation relating to Douglas centre will be published and she will also be questioning the impact of a proposed £25 ‘administration’ fee to issue residents’ parking permits, which are currently free.
Mr Bradley pointed out the new measures come in the wake of a 20 per cent fall in the island’s consumer economy since 2006 and rising overheads for businesses.
Strand Shopping Centre manager John Shakespeare has also voiced grave concerns over the adverse effect of new car parking charges. He too pointed to schemes run in the UK with free parking which had done much to boost town centre trade.
On page six of today’s Isle of Man Examiner, a Douglas restaurateur is so concerned about the impact of parking charges she is offering to reimburse her customers and a resident refused a bus pass because at 60 he is not yet retirement age, queries the legitimacy of such a swift change in the regulations.