Parking charge increase on the way to Burnley (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Is it any wonder people are leaving the area, Even in the local parks , And the shopkeepers in town will suffer ,

There were supposed to be 'free parking Saturdays' in Burnley to try and encourage shoppers, but the whole thing was so badly promoted at the start, and seems to have gone totally quiet now.

this is why we go to accrington parking is free,the shops are nice what is left in burnley,nail shops,cafes and take aways

, , , " resources cabinet member for the Labour-controlled authority, said at a recent council meeting that the move was designed to stimulate footfall in the high street. " . . . . if he REALLY said that, he meant to say the opposite, surely.
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I have heard some foolish things said in my lifetime !!!! but that . . . . . !!! He really said that if you charge people more for a service they can obtain for FREE in some places, then more people will want to pay for that service ????????????????????
??????????????????? Beyond belief !!!

One way to increase footfall would be to make the first hour free like some of our neighbouring towns. Increasing the cost of parking will only drive (no pun intended) more people away. Fewer people = fewer shops and this hits both local employment and the business rates.

Tell you what I'll keep going to out of town shopping centres and supermarkets.
Free parking and lots of it, no tramps or beggers, no traffic jams, no charity shops, cheaper prices,
I don't see any point going to the high street anymore especially if you have to pay for the pleasure.

Good to see we have got several months notice . . . or NOT !!

"Coun Mark Townsend, resources cabinet member for the Labour-controlled authority, said at a recent council meeting that the move was designed to stimulate footfall in the high street." - typiical Labour perverted logic!

Not got a clue, another nail in the coffin of town centre shopping. Footfall doesn't increase with less customers and footfall does not mean a sale. Those only going for an hour have somewhere to go and probably putting their hand in their pocket. If they make the first hour free then more money in the shops.

Another nail in the coffin of Burnley
other council are trying to put up charges. charging the disabled to park on their town carparks, disabled drivers have a blue badge with 3 hrs free parking but only on DD yellow lines causing traffic congestion thats why councils have to provide 6% of spaces for disabled drivers remember that a disabled person takes longer to get round doing their shoping than an abled bodied person it's time ALL drivers hit back at these outrages prices and refused to pay.

what, another 10p to park!!! That's it I'm going to drive an extra half hour to Accrington, it's free to park there! Doh!

The travails of the High Street have been well documented and the forces at work are exceedingly strong.

For local government the future is looking extremely difficult and they are attempting to exploit every source of short-term revenue available to them; even if that weakens other aspects of the locality. Increasing car parking charges is an obvious target.

It’s a great shame that as a country we largely squandered our inheritance of North Sea oil and sold off the family silver in the way that we did – our utilities.

Have we learned nothing from the board game ‘Monopoly’ that was designed to get the message across that ownership of assets – who the landlords are – really matters?

The public utilities had been carefully built and nurtured by our forefathers in local government and they were immensely proud of what they had achieved – and justly so.

If we had converted them to quasi public-private enterprises recognising their strategic importance with the state owning a golden share preventing them from falling into foreign ownership then municipalities could still have had a stake in them.

Local councils would be enjoying a valuable dividend income that would be growing in real terms; and this source of revenue would be independent from central government.

In places like Burnley right now that money could be put to very good use.

Moreover local authorities collectively would be significant shareholders and could vote en bloc to temper the worst excesses of corporate, managerial behaviour.

I know that I have daft ideas, and this ranks as one of the daftest, probably and I'm not too sure how we could get from where we are now to the situation I describe above.

From where I'm sitting the mainstream political parties give every impression of being stuck in a rut and in thrall to ideas from ‘think tanks’ that have agendas other than the well-being of the citizenry.

Kevin, Colne wrote:
The travails of the High Street have been well documented and the forces at work are exceedingly strong. For local government the future is looking extremely difficult and they are attempting to exploit every source of short-term revenue available to them; even if that weakens other aspects of the locality. Increasing car parking charges is an obvious target. It’s a great shame that as a country we largely squandered our inheritance of North Sea oil and sold off the family silver in the way that we did – our utilities. Have we learned nothing from the board game ‘Monopoly’ that was designed to get the message across that ownership of assets – who the landlords are – really matters? The public utilities had been carefully built and nurtured by our forefathers in local government and they were immensely proud of what they had achieved – and justly so. If we had converted them to quasi public-private enterprises recognising their strategic importance with the state owning a golden share preventing them from falling into foreign ownership then municipalities could still have had a stake in them. Local councils would be enjoying a valuable dividend income that would be growing in real terms; and this source of revenue would be independent from central government. In places like Burnley right now that money could be put to very good use. Moreover local authorities collectively would be significant shareholders and could vote en bloc to temper the worst excesses of corporate, managerial behaviour. I know that I have daft ideas, and this ranks as one of the daftest, probably and I'm not too sure how we could get from where we are now to the situation I describe above. From where I'm sitting the mainstream political parties give every impression of being stuck in a rut and in thrall to ideas from ‘think tanks’ that have agendas other than the well-being of the citizenry.

Some sense here but you're fighting yesterday's battles. You can't turn back the clock; you have to start from where we are now.

midas wrote:
what, another 10p to park!!! That's it I'm going to drive an extra half hour to Accrington, it's free to park there! Doh!

or stop going to burnley tc altogether and just visit the out-of-town retail stores and shop there on free, flat, easy access, non urine polluted car parks.

councils continue to implement the death of a thousand cuts on town centre traders.

but their not free! you have to drive there and therefore spend more on petrol rather than paying money to the Council which in turn reduces the amount needed to be paid in council tax.
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If you cannot afford to pay £2 for car parking than you aren't really going to be spending lots of money in the shops!

midas wrote:
but their not free! you have to drive there and therefore spend more on petrol rather than paying money to the Council which in turn reduces the amount needed to be paid in council tax. . If you cannot afford to pay £2 for car parking than you aren't really going to be spending lots of money in the shops!

If you think parking charges are going towards reducing your council tax you're totally naive; it goes towards keeping "equality and inclusion" departments going and implementing their pet schemes. £2 for car parking is £2 less spent in shops and £2 more into the grasping maw of bureaucracy.

rggraham1947 wrote:

midas wrote: but their not free! you have to drive there and therefore spend more on petrol rather than paying money to the Council which in turn reduces the amount needed to be paid in council tax. . If you cannot afford to pay £2 for car parking than you aren't really going to be spending lots of money in the shops!

If you think parking charges are going towards reducing your council tax you're totally naive; it goes towards keeping "equality and inclusion" departments going and implementing their pet schemes. £2 for car parking is £2 less spent in shops and £2 more into the grasping maw of bureaucracy.

Yes of course it does, meanwhile in the adult world we might have someone who can produce some evidence that shows a correlation between car park charges, footfall and spend in shops.