Businesses fear parking fees will destroy their livelihoods
OWEN YOUNGER visits Seaham in the wake of new parking charges approved by Durham County Council
NEW rules which will come into effect in April will mean that visitors to Seaham will need to pay up to £3 to park per day, instead of being able to park up for free.
But what will this mean for people and businesses in the County Durham town?
I headed straight to North Terrace, as I thought this would be the best place to be able to speak to a mix of visitors in the seaside town, as well as the people behind its businesses.
Local couple Louise and Janice Keating were sat with their cockapoo Archie, having a coffee.
Louise said: “We live in Seaham and often walk along here ourselves, but if we were bringing someone else, like my mother, we’d be driving and parking in the town. This is going to impact everyone, the council has improved the whole area but now its going to make people less likely to visit.”
Janice agreed. “This will have a huge impact, as Seaham was one of the only places with free parking along the coast,” she said.
“So many people come here with the free parking in mind, that’s why there were so many objections to the plans in the first place.”
I moved on to Hair Dressing at Number Four, where I spoke to owner Ellie Rawding about the impact that the new charges will have on her business.
She said: “This is going to destroy the businesses here. There has been so much development and a focus on people coming into the town but it will all be for nothing if the lack of free parking stops people.
“Some people will still be able to get here, but I am worried about the elderly people who won’t be able to park further away and walk a longer distance. I know someone that comes to the beach to walk his dogs every single day. He won’t be able to keep doing this as it’ll cost over £20 a week.
“Shopping in local towns like this will be stopped by the parking, and people will be pushed to retail parks where they can park for free. It’s just another thing to pay for on top of everything else, there isn’t a business or person here that won’t be affected in any way, I worry it could kill the area.”
Sarah Lane from Beauty Lane Nails, is based in Number Four, and she also chatted to me. Sarah said: “These parking charges will have a massive impact on every business, but with something like getting your nails done, this is a luxury so would be one of the first things that people sacrifice.
“As I am a new business, I am still building up my clients so something like this means that people are less likely to come here. I also have some elderly clients that will be badly affected.”
Next, I spoke to the owner of cafe Creams of Seaham, James Manners, who took over the business just before the pandemic. He said: “This will definitely have an impact on us,
and I think the fact that it feels like people weren’t given a say on these parking charges makes it feel worse.
“I think that the big issue with the parking no longer being free is that it will change people’s mentality about coming here and once they have that in their minds, they’ll find somewhere else where the parking is free. We know that this will be another challenge to get over, but we survived during the pandemic by being resilient and that is what we will continue to do.”
Finally, I spoke to two visitors to the town, David and Diane Morrison, who said the parking charges would probably not put them off visiting the town. David said: “We will probably still visit Seaham around once a month like we usually do, but we will look for free parking which might mean a longer walk away.”
Diane said: “We won’t be hugely impacted but I can see how people would be, especially those that either live or work here. I can’t imagine that these parking charges will be at all positive for the people here in Seaham.”
However Mark Jackson, Durham County Council’s head of transport, said the parking fees brought Seaham in line with the rest of the East Durham coast.
“The introduction of parking charges in six car parks on Seaham sea front will bring it into line with the rest of the car parks along the North East’s coast, where charges are already in place, he said.
“The charges, which will apply to all, will be £1 per hour, or £3 to park all day. There will still be free car parking in numerous other car parks around Seaham town centre, all of which are a short walk from the sea front.
“Parking charges are widely used to control parking availability and support the commercial viability of town centres and attractions by increasing turnover of spaces in areas where there is high demand.
“They improve parking availability for residents and visitors, and in turn, increase the number of people coming into communities and spending money. They also help lower emissions and improve local air quality.”
But it’s clear that plenty of people who live or run a business in the town are frustrated with the introduction of the new parking charges. I just hope that this issue does not deter people from visiting.