BEALES' BOSS WANTS PARKING CHARGES SCRAPPED FOR A YEAR (From Bournemouth Echo)

BEALES' BOSS WANTS PARKING CHARGES SCRAPPED FOR A YEAR

7:00am Friday 13th March 2009 in

By Faith Eckersall »

Skip social links
Print
Email
Comments(39)

SKY-high car parking charges in Bournemouth town centre should be scrapped for a year to regenerate the town’s retail fortunes.

Beales’ chief executive officer Tony Brown says the town is attracting around 50 per cent less shopping visitors than it should do because they just can’t afford to come here.

“If the council has got a policy to close down the town centre because of repressive parking charges and expand Castlepoint they need to come out and say that’s what they are doing,” he says.

“Because, at the moment, it looks like a sustained attack on the cash of people who want to come and shop and work in Bournemouth.”

“If they put half-a-per cent on the business rates and scrapped parking charges, I don’t think you’d see many retailers kicking up about that.”
Beales CEO Tony Brown

His remarks were sparked by concerns that the high cost of parking in Bournemouth town centre is driving shoppers to nearby Castlepoint, where parking is free, and also by fears that the council is planning to turn the last area of free town centre parking over to pay and display.

“By spreading the pay and display they’ve demonstrated that all they are interested in is the revenue, not the commercial viability of what should be a thriving town centre,” claims Mr Brown.

He says he is willing to see another half-a-per cent added to Beales’ £200,000-plus business rate to help compensate for lost revenue – and that other retailers would agree.

“I’m quite happy for the council to put a half-a-per cent on my business rate.

“I’ll give a little if they give a little,” he says. “If they put half-a-per cent on the business rates and scrapped parking charges, I don’t think you’d see many retailers kicking up about that.”

He described the £9 a day charged by the Richmond Hill multi-story as “appalling” and noted that the NCP car park at the bottom of the same road had slashed its charges only a few weeks ago.

Figures suggest that compared to similar towns such as Great Yarmouth, Bournemouth town centre is experiencing half the shopping visits that it should be from people in the local area.

“We should be attracting to the town centre 50 per cent more shoppers than we are attracting at the moment,” he says.

“That is around 300,000 people who are not coming to the town who should be.”

He believes the borough must look at other ways of raising revenue, with the town becoming “almost a no-go area for people who have got cars”.

Hard-pressed workers are also increasingly feeling the pinch and: “Some are paying as much as £10 a day to park.”

Abolishing charges would leave them with more money to spend in town.

“I think if they had a moratorium for 12 months and scrapped parking charges altogether, although keeping wardens to ensure spaces are kept clear for disabled people and to prevent illegal or dangerous parking, I think the town would see a resurgence.”

The evidence is that drivers resent paying. In York in 2005 a 20 per cent jump in fees at the city’s short-stay car parks resulted in a £33,000 revenue drop as motorists went elsewhere.

In its 2006 report, Parking In Town Centres, the British Parking Organisation noted that: “For many consumers visiting an out-of-town shopping location is becoming more attractive than visiting the nearest town centre shops.”

However, both these reports were published well before the credit crunch began to bite.

With all shoppers being forced to consider their spending now, even fewer will want to pay to park.

• What do you think? Would you come to the town centre more if you didn’t have to pay to park? Have your say below.

Council is responding positively

Cllr John Beesley, deputy leader of the council, said he was disappointed with what he described as Mr Brown’s “relatively uninformed” comments.

He said the council worked with many trade organisations, including the Chamber of Trade, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Bournemouth Area Hospitality Association and the Tourism Management Board, to improve and promote the town centre.

And he pointed out the council had set up a £1m “recession-busting fund” to help the town centre survive the economic downturn.

“Our car parking charges in the town centre are competitive,” he said. “Those run by private operators were not competitive but they have now reduced their prices in line with ours. I think perhaps Mr Brown might be getting confused between council car parks and private car parks.

“We try and tread a very fine line between maximising our income and attracting shoppers. It’s just not true to suggest that we’re continually looking to increase charges. We haven’t raised our car parking charges and don’t currently propose to.

“I’m very happy to meet with Mr Brown but I think he should be raising this under the umbrella of the Chamber of Trade.

“This is like me criticising the way he runs his retail at Beales.”

Comments(39)

2Much...again! says...
7:39am Fri 13 Mar 09

Codswallop!
The council are once again burying their heads in the sand, and as usual their comments are patronising.
I don't go to Bournemouth because the shops are the same as any town, the shops pay EXTORTIONATE business rates, which has pushed smaller stores away. The car parking is a joke. They use the money they inherit to put litter spies on the streets and there is little evidence of the streets actually having cleaners on it.
Bournemouth are more angled toward money than people..