AN extra 10,000 drivers used Stockton Heath’s Forge car park in the first two months after Marks and Spencer opened in the village.
But they all made use of the free one hour period – and did not visit other shops.
In fact, all other traders have noticed a distinct drop in footfall since M&S opened, according to local businessman Paul McIntyre, a member of a joint parish council/ borough council/traders parking group which is studying parking issues in the village.
He wants the borough to consider an emergency measure of offering a free 20 minute parking period and then a charge of £1 for three hours to encourage people to extend their visit into Stockton Heath village.
Mr McIntyre said: “People are coming into the village to visit M&S and parking for an hour for free.
“But this doesn’t give them time to visit any of the other shops. Every trader I have spoken to has complained of a drop in footfall.”
Mr McIntyre and parish councillor Sue Barlow had walked the village with a borough council officer looking for places where existing parking restrictions could be removed or relaxed or parking bays provided to make more parking space available. Their recommendations will be studied by highways chiefs.
But in the long term, Mr McIntyre believes more radical measure are necessary – including a second tier of parking on the lower section of the Forge car park.
He said: “The upper tier would be about the same height as the upper section of the car park so it would not be overbearing. This would obviously cost a lot of money, but there are ways of raising money, including, of course, the additional revenue there would be from parking.
“The days of free parking are over. But I think if people could have three hours for £1, giving them time to do their shopping, look around our great village shopping centre and perhaps have a coffee or a snack, they would be prepared to pay.”
The forge car park which has seen an extra 10,000 cars
1 Comment
Surely they should be pushing to get the 2 hours free parking back like it used to be. I often nip into the village when I’m on my way home and in my car but if it’s changed, like they suggest, to having to pay £1 for up to 3 hours with no free parking at all (other than the suggested 20 mins) then I’m afraid I certainly wont be parking there any more to do any shopping. I wonder if footfall has also dropped because the HSBC bank has closed recently too so rather than just going to the village branch then having a look around the shops we all now have to go into the town’s Bridge Street branch instead.