Comparing costs of parking

WHILE studying the district council’s Community and Environment Committee Agenda this week, ahead of a meeting tomorrow to decide whether to increase parking charges by 13%, we were drawn to a table which compared Ashbourne’s charges to other towns in the area and further afield.

When the News Telegraph first broke news of the review, we did a spot of analysis of our own, looking at parking prices in some of the towns widely hailed as the most popular tourist hotspots in Britain – and we didn’t compare favourably.

So it came as a bit of a surprise to see so many local authorities, according to the table, charging significantly more than Derbyshire Dales District Council. Especially for the benchmark figure based on two hours, the most popular rate.

Top-of-the-table Brighton and Hove, for example, according to the district council’s research, charges an eye-watering £8 for two hours. However, we found a price for two hours’ parking at two of Brighton’s seafront car parks and it’s just £2. That’s 50p more than we’re staring down the barrel of. It’s not the only anomaly we found in the table either, there were plenty.

So we challenged the district council on this and they explained they have not worked their figures out based on average prices, but on prices that visitors are prepared to pay in the “hot spots” in those areas.

To be fair, in the centre of Brighton’s shopping quarter, there is a multi-storey car park in which you can pay £10.50 for two hours.

Of course, the table is intended to help our fair-minded elected representatives reach a decision they feel is best for all concerned.

We just hope they’re not swayed into thinking that parking in Derbyshire Dales is currently cheap. Because, despite where we rank on that table, let’s not beat about the bush, it is anything but cheap.