We need to evaluate our town centre parking
OVER the last five years I have spent many hours in meetings discussing how Stockport can move forward, and the ‘quick wins’ that will attract more shoppers into the town centre.
But one topic in particular seems to crop up in every meeting. Parking. And, more specifically, free parking.
Stockport’s car parks are well run and maintained, they benefit from convenient technology such as RingGo and have excellent CCTV to ensure visitors feel safe and secure, but what’s the point in all these provisions when the town doesn’t draw in as many shoppers as we’d like?
Many businesses and visitors suggest free parking subsidised by Stockport council would be a ‘quick win’ in terms of enticing people to spend time in the town centre.
Many other towns do this, why can’t we?
Logic tells you that income needs to be generated through parking charges to provide a high-quality service, fund general maintenance and constantly improve the facilities.
In order to get the best of both worlds, we need to work with the council to find a viable way of bringing people into the town and put enough money in the pot to allow car parks to be selffunding.
Evaluating the current tariff structure and researching the most popular parking times should be carried out to give visitors value for money and encourage them to spend longer in the town centre.
For example, at present the charge at Heaton Lane car park is a flat rate at 80p per hour, but if the hourly charge decreased when buying tickets for three hours or more, this would help entice people to stay longer.
With Stockport’s newest development, Redrock, being focused on a leisure offer it’s becoming increasingly important that we make visiting and staying in Stockport as appealing as possible for everyone.