Tories urge council to push for free parking at Blackburn's Mall

11:07am Monday 16th July 2012 in Business

BLACKBURN with Darwen Council has been urged to pressure The Mall into joining its free shopper Saturday parking scheme.

Tory opposition leader Michael Lee made the call at the borough’s cabinet meeting this week.

He spoke out as executive board member for regeneration Dave Harling hailed the free parking initiative as a success in boosting the number of town centre visitors.

On Saturday, July 7, the first day of the scheme, the main town centre car parks were on average 88 per cent full.

Waves, Barton Street and Fleming Square were full compared to an average of 80 per cent in previous weeks.

Coun Lee said there had been complaints from shoppers and traders that the Mall was still charging and they had thought it would be included in the free parking initiative.

He asked: “Could we put pressure on The Mall to make its car park free as well?”

Coun Harling replied: “The Mall is a private car park and it is a matter for them.”

Loraine Jones, general manager of The Mall, said: “Use of our car park has remained stable since the council implemented its changes and we have received no customer complaints.

“The Mall has worked closely with the council over recent years as we have been a key part of the wider regeneration of Blackburn.”

Comments (2)

7:33pm Mon 16 Jul 12

M.DANNY says...

The Mall is a private company and couldn't provide free parking like the council owned car parks.Mall could provide some free parking spaces after 3pm Monday to Saturday to boost sales in the Mall with many shop units still empty after two years of bigger and better modern looking Mall.Mall didn't attract many big high street names in Blackburn likes of Waterstones,miss selfridge,Beaverbroo
ks,Disney Stores,Cex,Poundland
,Clas Ohlson,Jack & Jones,Perfect World,Sony Centre,Ted Baker,Monsoon and many more.
The Mall is a private company and couldn't provide free parking like the council owned car parks.Mall could provide some free parking spaces after 3pm Monday to Saturday to boost sales in the Mall with many shop units still empty after two years of bigger and better modern looking Mall.Mall didn't attract many big high street names in Blackburn likes of Waterstones,miss selfridge,Beaverbroo ks,Disney Stores,Cex,Poundland ,Clas Ohlson,Jack & Jones,Perfect World,Sony Centre,Ted Baker,Monsoon and many more. M.DANNY

8:18pm Fri 20 Jul 12

woolywords says...

If there was openness and transparency in any and all of the Councils dealing with traders, it would be a far better thing for all of us to come to terms with. Sadly, it will never be the case.
And for as long as the Status Quo exists, there will be accusations of, bungs, back-handers and brown envelopes.
Years ago, I was shaking hands with Cllrs., in another part of the UK, when a friend said to me, all those handshakes, have you counted your fingers since you started? You cannot trust a one of them. That was 1978, nothing has changed since.

There are these little people that notice how, when things need to be done, live on a street where a Cllr lives. Although, within a few years, they will move out of the area, distancing themselves from the people that elected them, gaining an almost God-like, I know better than you attitude of the electorate.
Where they give up a job, to be more interactive with Council affairs, rather than be remote and taking a better salary in the meanwhile.

There has to be a radical shift in the body politic, and it should start here. No more jobs for the boys on vain glorious invented jobs that do nothing for the little man that elected you.
Stop creating jobs that don't have a positive outcome. If you are elected to cut grass, then cut grass. Don't employ some superannuated numbskull to run a department that can be run be the people that know how to do a job.
Get rid of the mass of paperwork that requires weeks to work though to say how much a person can have as a rent or community charge rebate. It makes no sense to anyone, with it's convoluted contraptions of bureaucracy, of your own makings.
Learn a term, KISS, wherein it means, keep it simple, stupid.

There was a time when a simple man could work out the rent and rates rebates, on a fag packet. Not now, that you have created this organ of it's own importance. It's supposed to be simpler now, yet takes weeks to work out, why?
Are we employing the wrong kind of people, that cannot use a simple calculator or abacus?
Or, is it just that, we have to work to a computer system that constantly crashes, due it's workload in doing basic sums?
How much, does the common working man pay towards, per annum, people employed with no other function than, write a spreadsheet program to calculate the rent/rates rebate?

Am betting my aged Mum could do better, on an old Kalmazoo worksheet, than half of these people we are paying for..in half the time, at a quarter of the costs and she don't work cheap!

And another thing, who isn't answering my Freedom of Information Act requests in the Council?
The current answer of, we are looking in to it, is no longer acceptable.
If there was openness and transparency in any and all of the Councils dealing with traders, it would be a far better thing for all of us to come to terms with. Sadly, it will never be the case. And for as long as the Status Quo exists, there will be accusations of, bungs, back-handers and brown envelopes. Years ago, I was shaking hands with Cllrs., in another part of the UK, when a friend said to me, all those handshakes, have you counted your fingers since you started? You cannot trust a one of them. That was 1978, nothing has changed since. There are these little people that notice how, when things need to be done, live on a street where a Cllr lives. Although, within a few years, they will move out of the area, distancing themselves from the people that elected them, gaining an almost God-like, I know better than you attitude of the electorate. Where they give up a job, to be more interactive with Council affairs, rather than be remote and taking a better salary in the meanwhile. There has to be a radical shift in the body politic, and it should start here. No more jobs for the boys on vain glorious invented jobs that do nothing for the little man that elected you. Stop creating jobs that don't have a positive outcome. If you are elected to cut grass, then cut grass. Don't employ some superannuated numbskull to run a department that can be run be the people that know how to do a job. Get rid of the mass of paperwork that requires weeks to work though to say how much a person can have as a rent or community charge rebate. It makes no sense to anyone, with it's convoluted contraptions of bureaucracy, of your own makings. Learn a term, KISS, wherein it means, keep it simple, stupid. There was a time when a simple man could work out the rent and rates rebates, on a fag packet. Not now, that you have created this organ of it's own importance. It's supposed to be simpler now, yet takes weeks to work out, why? Are we employing the wrong kind of people, that cannot use a simple calculator or abacus? Or, is it just that, we have to work to a computer system that constantly crashes, due it's workload in doing basic sums? How much, does the common working man pay towards, per annum, people employed with no other function than, write a spreadsheet program to calculate the rent/rates rebate? Am betting my aged Mum could do better, on an old Kalmazoo worksheet, than half of these people we are paying for..in half the time, at a quarter of the costs and she don't work cheap! And another thing, who isn't answering my Freedom of Information Act requests in the Council? The current answer of, we are looking in to it, is no longer acceptable. woolywords

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