CONSULTATION has started on the controversial proposals to end free car parking on the Lymm and Stockton Heath village car parks.
The proposals by Warrington Borough Council have caused a storm of protest. Yesterday, Thursday, a 21-day consultation period started in relation to the car parks in Stockton Heath and Lymm losing the free parking periods put in place in 2016. The council appears to have relaxed its original plan of removing nearly all free parking, by continuing with the 15-minute free period at The Forge car park in Stockton Heath.
One of the local Councillors working on the issue, Graham Gowland from Lymm South, said: “We’ve been working with officers to identify the ways we can deliver the increase in income they are looking for, without impacting the shops that depend so much on the passing trade that the free hour’s parking facilitates. A large proportion of people using the carparks use them for less than an hour, but that’s an illustration of how vital that free period is”.
He says the proposals could raise parking revenue by £53K, but local campaigners fear that it could put local businesses at risk.
Parish Councillor Sally Sharma, the author of a petition on the issue that is currently sitting above 3,500 signatures said: “It’s good to hear there’s some dialogue with our Borough Councillors and the relevant officers, but we’ve yet to hear any proposals to address the key issues, the loss of the parking period for short visits to the village’.
At the current time, district car parks in the south of the town have parking charges, while the majority of council district car parks north of the ship canal are free. A view often expressed by people signing the petition (Who come from all over the Borough) is that charging should be equitable – 6 out of 8 district car parks in Labour-held wards don’t charge, while 5 out of 5 carparks in wards held by other parties charge.
Cllr Gowland added: “The council is after an additional £53K in parking revenue, and if this was split across the 13 district car parks equally, it would just require an additional £4K contribution from each car park – giving each car park a free hour, and adding 10p to the hourly rate after that would raise more than this amount, but removing two villages community parking will simply kill businesses”.
Responses to the parking consultation should be emailed to [email protected] by the 20th February 2025 and all objections must specify the grounds on which they are made.
The full council notice can be read by CLICKING HERE
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The death knell-Believe me!