Fort economy will be ‘hit’ by parking fees
WITH just a little more than three weeks to go until a new Highland-wide schedule of car parking charges is introduced, there is growing concern over its potential impact on town centre businesses in Fort William.
The charges were approved last month when the local authority set its new budget, complete with a package of savings to close a £15 million gap in its finances.
But the measures have been slammed as part of a ‘panic budget’ created by the same people who have been in charge while the council has accrued a £1 billion deficit.
Drew Purdon, chairman of Fort William Retail Association, said the plan to target car parking and look at closing certain public toilets to save money is ‘nonsensical’.
Mr Purdon said: ‘This is a panic budget without a shadow of a doubt. I don’t think these measures will look the same as the ones finally brought into force mind you - but by then they will have created fear and anxiety, not just for the local business community, but for local residents as well.
‘But if these changes do go through unchanged, free parking in Fort William will be gone forever and all because of a £1 billion overspend by the council, the consequences of which will now be inflicted on innocent people – it’s as simple as that.’
Gwyn Moses, of the Gallery in the Fort in the town’s High Street, says the minimum charge increase from 20p to £1 will hit the town’s economy by stopping people making short trips to the High Street.
‘And free parking in long-stay car parks will disappear over the winter period, making it less likely that visitors will stop in Fort William,’ he added.
‘The free parking permits for residents will now cost £40 – this seems well in excess of the cost of administering the scheme – and free car parks in places like Mallaig will disappear.
‘I feel a lot of these increased charges and new fees are excessive and will deter visitors and especially locals from using the High Street, and will therefore be damaging to the local economy.’
Fort William and Ardnamurchan SNP councillor Blair Allan agreed and said an ill-thoughtthrough charging structure is being imposed while local views are ignored.
‘This is not acceptable,’ he said this week. ‘The fee-charging structure is completely unbalanced. I call on the council to take a little longer to think properly about these charges, and to consult local elected members.
‘The charges are set to give visitors cheap access to our facilities at the expense of local people, who are having their historic free access to parking in the town removed.
‘The council needs to consider charging for its car parks outwith Fort William too. At the moment, the proposals focus entirely on Fort William. The council needs to get its act together on this, and quickly.’
Currently, Fort William is one of only four Highland towns outside of Inverness which charges for parking – the others being Aviemore, Fort Augustus and Portree.
However, Lochaber lead councilor Andrew Baxter, current chairman of the council’s people committee, believes there may be room for some manoeuvre by local councillors next month.
‘I have made it clear that Lochaber councillors will not sit by and allow car parking charges to go up here, while places like Nairn and Dingwall have been getting away with it,’ he said.
‘There is completely free parking in Nairn, Wick, Invergordon, Thurso and Dingwall, which Fort William has been subsidising to the tune of £300,000, and it is completely unfair.’
And Mr Baxter revealed that a meeting this week had seen an agreement that might allow a possibly better schedule of fees to be looked at by next month’s meeting of Lochaber Area Committee.
‘It might perhaps be possible, for example, to include an element of free parking in Fort William town centre, even if just for 15-minute or half-hour periods,’ he said.