Survey reveals town is paying price for higher car parking charges

84% of respondents would visit more often if it was cheaper to park Most say Ashbourne is ‘disadvantaged’ compared to parking prices elsewhere Hopes results can bring changes through ‘promised’ review by district council

A SNAPSHOT survey of people parking in a Derbyshire town has highlighted the harm pricey parking fees is doing to the high street.

Ashbourne Town Team quizzed visitors during September about their parking habits and specifically asked whether Derbyshire Dales District Council’s free parking after 2pm concession had influenced their decision to shop in town.

The results of the survey have now been revealed and more than 80% of people said they would visit Ashbourne more often if it was cheaper to park.

The cost of one hour’s parking in Ashbourne’s main car park, Shaw Croft, is £1.50 – which is significantly more than in neighbouring towns.

Parking for an hour in Leek would cost £1, while Belper charges £1.10 and offers a half hour rate from 50p. In Uttoxeter, two hours of parking costs £1.40 and it is free after 3pm.

Derbyshire Dales District Council offered its free after 2pm concession after the volunteer-run town team piled pressure on councillors to help the high street bounce back from the pandemic.

The authority has offered free parking after 2pm during December for many years to boost Christmas shopping, but the September offer was the first of its kind outside the festive season.

And, according to 63% of the 445 people who responded to the survey, 43% of whom described themselves as visitors, the free parking offer influenced their decision to shop in the town.

The survey found that 84% of people would visit the town more often if parking was cheaper, and that 88% would come again if there was another free parking offer.

Additionally, 74% of respondents said they would visit more often if they could park for longer than Shaw Croft’s four-hour restriction currently allows, and 52% would visit more frequently if payment was available on exiting the car park.

Only 21% of respondents to the survey, which ran throughout September, said that none of these changes would make a difference.

Alarmingly, 83% of respondents said they had previously had to cut short their visit for fear of receiving a parking fine.

And 76% of respondents believed that Ashbourne was disadvantaged

due to parking constraints compared to other towns in the local area such as Leek, Belper and Uttoxeter.

Town team member and Ashbourne businesswoman Anne Wright says the survey has confirmed a widelyheld belief that the current parking system and its high charges are stifling the high street’s growth.

She said: “Ashbourne Town Team believes that the results of this survey show there is an urgent need for a review of car parking facilities in the town to support recovery of the town centre.

“We are not necessarily advocating free car parking, however, consideration needs to be given to reduced charges, extended length of stay, payment on exit, more flexible ways to pay and opportunities such as free parking for 30 minutes to encourage footfall in the town centre.

“We believe a creative approach to a review of parking could achieve a ‘win-win.’

“Flexibility and incentives to encourage more footfall whilst still protecting, or even increasing, revenues for Derbyshire Dales District Council.

“We are looking forward to the forthcoming review which has been promised by the district council and we will welcome the opportunity to contribute to fresh ideas to this review.”

The survey, conducted online through a QR code for smartphones, also asked respondents for comments - and 223 people chose to have their say in greater detail.

The town team says the comments highlighted an “overwhelming trend” of disappointment in the decline of Ashbourne as a shopping destination in recent years and that improved parking facilities focusing particularly on parking duration and reduced cost would help support the businesses in the town centre and encourage more footfall.

Anne Wright’s own business, fashion store Young Ideas, says it saw an increase of 26% in sales in September, compared to September 2020

Sales, she says, also increased by 42% compared to September 19, before the pandemic had hit.

She says she believes the boost was supported by the free parking initiative and that her customers had commented on how free parking had encouraged them to visit the town more often.

Customers had also said they felt much more relaxed at being able to extend their stay if they wanted a coffee or to try on more clothes.

And fellow town team member Sally Montague, whose business the Sally Montague Hair Group has its flagship store in Ashbourne, said September 2021 proved to be the busiest the firm had ever seen in the town.