Is a 10p parking reduction enough to save Chippenham?
By Lois_Avery | Tuesday, November 15, 2011, 14:39
Following the council's decision to reduce the first hour's parking in Chippenham (and other Wiltshire towns) by 10p, council leader Jane Scott said in a statement:
"We recognise that the council must do something to reinvigorate the economies of our communities and I hope the changes we have agreed to implement today will go some way towards doing this.
"The whole country is facing the challenges of the continuing global financial crisis and we want to do all we can to help Wiltshire's communities so shoppers and tourists are encouraged to visit our vibrant shopping centres.
"We have listened to local residents and businesses and I hope we can now move forward and promote everything our excellent shopping centres have to offer."
Do you think 10p an hour is enough? Or should the council be doing more?
Personally I don't think this will make any difference. Ten pence won't solve the problem when supermarkets like Sainsbury's are free and the high street is struggling.
Comments
My main issue with Chippenham is never having change - yes you can pay with mobile phone but it's such a faff. If it was a pay on exit ticket system it would be better - pay and display seems so old fashioned now. A pay station which takes cards would be much more convenient. (obviously free would be better but i think it's looking unlikely!)
By Lois_Avery at 09:16 on 21/11/11
ReportAs soon as the shopper has to worry about having the right change and potentially incurring a huge fine if they are minutes late back to their car, they will opt to go elsewhere. In order to compete with the out of town stores, the parking needs to be free. End of.
By Andy_Meredith at 17:02 on 17/11/11
Report10p?? What an absolute joke. I work in Clifton, known as being quite a nice area and the car park on Whiteladies Road is considerably cheaper. I woudn't have as much of an issue if Chippenham High Street wasn't so awful not to mention empty!
By locallaura at 21:19 on 15/11/11
ReportI agree, the 10p cut won't make any difference. As well as the cost of parking in Chippenham, there just isn't enough variety of shops to tempt people.
Within half an hour, traffic allowing, one can get to Cribbs Causeway on the motorway where you have The Mall as well as all the large out of town stores and a huge Asda with all there non-food items and it's all free parking. OK so it costs a few quid in petrol but there is a large selection of stores to pick from.
Also the internet is a much more accessible option for shopping than ever.
Often prices are cheaper than the high street, even for the same retailer, and P&P charges are much fairer now and quite often free.
The high street will never completely die as people love to shop, it's what the British are good at, but only the strongest retailers may survive.
By chippersdip at 19:11 on 15/11/11
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