Fort William retailers lobby council over parking changes

LOCHABER councillors are attempting to roll back ‘grossly unfair’ parking charges in Fort William following pressure from retailers in the town.

The chairman of the Fort William Retail Association has welcomed an effort by councillors to reduce fees for local residents’ annual permits for car parks in the town centre.

New proposals approved in the Highland Council budget in February outlined that local residents will have to pay £120 for a yearly parking permit in Fort William town centre, having hitherto been entitled to free annual permits.

However, at a Lochaber area committee meeting last Wednesday, councillors passed a motion to recommend slashing annual permits for town centre parking from £120 to £60.

The committee also voted to recommend two hours of free parking, rather than just the half an hour period proposed in the budget, for Viewforth and Middle Street car parks from November to January.

To come into effect, these recommendations must now gain the support of two-thirds of the full Highland Council when it meets again next month in Inverness.

Drew Purdon, chairman of the Fort William Retail Association, said: ‘It’s nice to see we stirred up some debate on it. We made the point that these car parking charges are just another levy on people in business on the High Street.’

Mr Purdon raised the issue with councillors after being shocked by the new parking charges proposed in the council budget when it was approved in February.

‘I found it quite astonishing that nothing was being done about it,’ Mr Purdon said. ‘It seemed to us that this was grossly unfair. Anything detrimental to those businesses harms the town and the impression it has on people visiting the area. We are delighted that the councillors took our concerns on board in the spirit of cooperation.’

There was friction among councillors over some of the parking charges, however, with councillors Niall McLean and Blair Allan both voting against the motion to

vary the fees set out in the council budget on the basis that the amendments are not extensive enough to remove onerous charges on Fort William residents.

The dissenting councillors said they ‘wholeheartedly disagree’ with the proposals and maintained at the meeting that the £120 charge should ideally be abolished entirely.

Mr Allan expressed his dismay over the consultation process, stating that the parking charges proposals had ‘neither been properly thought through nor been properly consulted on’.

Furthermore, Mr McLean argued that the booming tourist industry should be better used to recoup money for the council, with visitors and tourists bearing the brunt of parking fees rather than locals.

Mr McLean also expressed his shock at the new Highland Council-wide £50 annual parking charge for carers delivering medical and domiciliary care in the town centre, and said that the council ‘should be quite ashamed’ of approving such fees.

He said: ‘They are looking to gain money from members of staff and carers from within our community. They’re putting a £50 charge where there was no charge before to try to make money from people who care for the most vulnerable in society.

‘I know we’re short of money, but we’re not that short of money.’

The Lochaber committee chairman, councillor Andrew Baxter, responded: ‘I recognise that this is a difficult issue and we are all juggling with the impact of it and trying to find ways of mitigating it.’

On the wider issues surrounding Fort William car parking charges, Mr Baxter added: ‘I have been pushing for car parking review because I think it is iniquitous that outside of Inverness, Fort William is the biggest contributor to the Highlands in terms of car parking charges. Nairn, Wick, Thurso, Dingwall and all these other places are getting away with not charging residents or tourists for car parking. And that’s why I pushed for these changes to the budget so strongly.’

In defence of the decision to introduce parking permit fees for locals, councillor Ben Thompson pointed to the Highland Council’s £200 million backlog of road repairs as ample justification for increasing parking fees in the town centre.

This is just another levy on High Street businesses” Drew Purdon Fort William Retail Association