Parking Meters in Wincanton – The Debate Continues

Two years ago a public meeting supported the Town Council in a plan to pay an annual fee to South Somerset District Council, keeping parking meters out of Wincanton. That was then, so what's happening now?

The rumour mill has it that the Town Council is re-visiting this issue and "Parking" is going to be discussed at the next Town Council meeting on Monday 24th February at 7.30pm. The current agreement is a rolling agreement requiring three years notice to quit. So, even if they decide on Monday to give notice to quit, we will probably be paying for it for another three years.

What would happen if the Town Council decide to terminate this deal? How would it affect the community? Whilst all policies from local and District Council affect the community in some way, sometimes the effects can be more dramatic. Two years ago this one proved to be a hot potato and the Wincanton Window published an report on a lively public consultation meeting.

Will this issue once again raise hackles and bring heated debates? There's no doubt that it is contentious, and that many people will be poles apart in their thinking. Is it possible to reach a decision that has an outcome to benefit all, or will it be impossible to satisfy everyone?

• Why should the people of Wincanton subsidise parking for outsiders?
• Why should Wincanton residents have to pay to shop in their own High Street?
• Will meters really make a difference to our High Street footfall?
• Will meters really drive more business out of town?

Should this sort of issue be the subject of a full public meeting to give the people of Wincanton the chance to speak up? Two years ago the Town Council got their support at a public meeting. It's also important to remember that for every question raised there are usually at least two sides. That's a good reason to attend Monday's meeting so that all sides can have a good airing and help arrive at the right decision.

If you wish to be able to speak about the parking issue you need to register your name before the start of the meeting. Go to the Town Council website, and on the front page you can access recent meeting agendas and minutes. Read them through to see any comments that may have been made on this subject.

[UPDATE:] Please note, members of the public are not permitted to participate in the debate itself, but attendees who have registered their name before the start of the meeting may speak at the beginning. That's the time to bring to the Council's attention any points of view they might otherwise overlook.

[UPDATE:] Find out what happened at the meeting on the 24th February.

Comments

PCullen
Posts: 1

Parking Charges in Wincanton
Reply #1 on : Sun February 23, 2014, 19:01:10

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At the public meeting 2 years ago regarding the imposition of parking charges in Wincanton's town car parks, there was a majority vote in favour of No parking charges, and a small levy on the council tax of Wincanton residents. The reasons: 1/ With parking charges, fewer people would shop in the town centre; Local shops would suffer a loss of trade and some would become non-viable and close; the town would become full of empty shops, and die.
2/ Money raised from parking charges will go to South Somerset Council, and not be spent in Wincanton.
These reasons are still true today. Nothing has changed, except that there are a couple of extra empty shops in the high street.
If Wincanton residents want to shop in their High Street, then they will need open shops to shop in. Parking charges could prove the death knell for Wincanton. Will SSDC come to the rescue? Will Wincanton residents get a reduction in their council tax bills? I leave it to readers of this page to decide.
Where will those people who work in Wincanton be able to park their cars?
A sensible solution: Adopt the system used in Warminster, where there is free car parking for 2 hours. Those who work in Wincanton should be issued with Parking Permits. Those who park in the Memorial car park to take buses and coaches to other parts will have to pay a fee for Parking.

davidsmith
Posts: 4

Re: Parking Meters in Wincanton – The Debate Continues
Reply #2 on : Mon February 24, 2014, 12:14:31

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Two hours free does seem to shift the motion more in favour of shoppers, which sounds good. I've heard that plan mentioned before. It might well be the plan the Council have in mind after all.

What intrigues me is that I'm told the parks cost the 'Town' £25,000/year. Thus far we've elected to pay that through Council Tax by precept increase. If that plan changes, presumably the precept will go down, else we've been a little bit cheated.

If that happens and the cost of running the parks is transferred to parking meters and permits, I wonder if those channels would actually raise £25k in a year. I find it hard to believe. I can't imaging shoppers will contribute a significant portion of it - else it'd still have the predicted negative impact on footfall - and it seems equally improbable that the minority who would be using the parks for longer stints (over night?) would be happy about splitting the £25k between them every year.

I wonder if the aim is to make District happy, as opposed to actually raising £25k. If we satisfy them by letting them put in meters, next year we might hear that the plan isn't working because they aren't raising enough money after all. What happens then? More meters in less convenient places? More expensive permits for residents?

I suppose it's only fair to assume that the authorities have some information on which to base their decision. Perhaps case studies of other towns where similar schemes have been applied.

sam
Posts: 2

Re: Parking Meters in Wincanton – The Debate Continues
Reply #3 on : Mon February 24, 2014, 15:22:52

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You do not need to register to speak at any Town Council meetings. Public participation starts at 7:30pm.

johnsmith
Posts: 2

Public Participation
Reply #4 on : Mon February 24, 2014, 16:26:25

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Thanks for that update Sam. Apologies if I got that wrong. I thought that you had to register so that you could take part.
Thanks again

Heyesey
Posts: 2

Re: Parking Meters in Wincanton – The Debate Continues
Reply #5 on : Tue February 25, 2014, 22:58:15

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It is in my nature to be a pragmatist, and I don't really see that any principles or moral arguments come into play on this subject. The residents of Wincanton must, and do, pay for their parking in town, either through the precept or directly through a parking meter; the option of not doing so is an illusory one.

The important question is simply a matter of practical finance; the council saves £x thousand a year by not paying to keep the car parks free of charge; how much would the council lose in business rates, from lost sales due to people not coming here to shop? The only thing that needs discussion is whether that figure is likely to be higher, or lower, than the saving; and it's impossible to know for certain until after the experiment has been conducted.

What needs to be discussed, and agreed on, is whether we - the public at large, and the council who represent us - believe that the saving, which is tangible and exact, outweighs the likely amount lost. The people in best position to know that are the business owners; how much custom could they afford to lose before they closed and contributed £zero to council accounts?

sam
Posts: 2

Re: Parking Meters in Wincanton – The Debate Continues
Reply #6 on : Wed February 26, 2014, 14:35:35

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The Town Council does not receive any funds from Business Rates.

i-sgallery
Posts: 6

Disappointed
Reply #7 on : Wed February 26, 2014, 16:14:10

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Very disappointed that it seems Wincanton is to lose its free parking! Such a shame - many of or customers have commented on how Wincanton Town is really becoming a nice place to visit. We hope parking charges are not to the detriment of the town.

i-sgallery
Posts: 6

URGENT NOTICE REGARDING PARKING TO ALL WINCANTON RESIDENTS
Reply #8 on : Wed February 26, 2014, 16:16:01

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We would like to make Wincanton residents aware of the decision taken at the Town Council meeting on Monday 24th Feb to abolish free car parking in Wincanton. In the face of many objections the Town Council voted to allow the District Council to bring in car parking charges, despite there being no members of the public speaking in favour of charges. People living in the Wincanton area should be aware of the following: 1) the present cost of free car parking is less than £15 per year per household (ie: 30p per week) which is paid through a slight increase in council tax rates. 2) under the proposed car parking fees just one hours parking per household would be twice as expensive as it is now to have completely free parking (and there is nothing to stop District Council increasing these charges as they wish) 3) as a result of car parking charges we are likely to see more boarded up shops as businesses struggle to survive - leading to lack and loss of facilities. This in consequence will lead to lack of demand and desirability of living in the area which in turn affects the value of residents homes. We believe Wincanton Town Council is on the point of handing our car parks to the District Council. If you do not want to lose free car parking we would urge you to make your views known. Contact the Town Council now with a view to persuading them to reconsider their decision!

davidsmith
Posts: 4

Not the whole story
Reply #9 on : Wed February 26, 2014, 17:03:35

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I don't think that's the whole story, nor a completely fair appraisal of what happened at the meeting. I hope we'll hear more about the details shortly, but from what I've heard already it sounds more like the TC have played a 'safety' with a view to winning some wriggle room in the shorter term.

That's not as good as "sticking it to man", but it's not as bad as handing our car parks to SSDC and accepting parking charges.

It's far from over.

johnsmith
Posts: 2

Proposal Clarification
Reply #10 on : Wed February 26, 2014, 17:27:58

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We need to be absolutely clear about this proposal. We can't afford to have this issue muddied. A proposal has not been passed to bring about the installation of parking meters in Wincanton.

AS we understand it the proposal passed at the Town Council meeting on Monday was to serve notice on SSDC that Town Council wish to renegotiate a new contract with better terms to take effect at the end of the current contract in 2015. The notice has to be submitted within a time frame to apply.

WBT's concern (and I'm sure that of many of our residents and businesses)is that we are not confident that SSDC will be willing to bend in any way. Their track record on this subject is simply to lay options on the table, all of which result in SSDC obtaining the finance that they need. It's only a matter lf how the people of Wincanton pay for it. This is not negotiation in any way shape or form. It's an execution that only gives you the choice of how you want to be shot.

i-sgallery
Posts: 6

response to "not the whole story"
Reply #11 on : Wed February 26, 2014, 17:36:29

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Many local business people gathered after the meeting and were all quite clear that they had heard
the Town Council had voted to "give notice that they
intended to terminate the contract with SSDC". I can only interpret this as not wishing to continue the present arrangement (i.e. compensate SSDC for lack of income from car parks). Once notice to terminate a contract is given, the Town Council is in neither a legal nor moral position to argue the case afterwards. I should imagine that as soon as SSDC receive notification of termination they will immediately set about tendering for the installation of parking meters, signage and enforcement officers so that when the current contract runs out in 2015 they will be in a position to collect car parking charges from day one. I will be delighted if this not the case and if you know of some strange termination clause that allows "wriggle room" once notification has been given please let us know so that our minds can be put at ease.

davidsmith
Posts: 4

Crossing the line of no-return
Reply #12 on : Wed February 26, 2014, 17:45:45

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We'll just have to give someone the benefit of the doubt and assume the TC wouldn't give notice if they didn't really believe they could retract it later.

Deferring till a later date before renegotiating doesn't sound like the end of the line, and if it did to the TC I'm sure they wouldn't go through with it.

Also, all the above seems still to assume that we actually have a choice to carry on as we are. If SSDC are looking for a raise, at the very least we'll have to consider another precept increase before accusing the TC of anything.

i-sgallery
Posts: 6

Puzzled
Reply #13 on : Wed February 26, 2014, 18:37:04

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If we have no choice - what negotiations can the TC put forward?

The Animal
Posts: 1

ANGER OF ANIMAL
Reply #14 on : Thu February 27, 2014, 13:39:02

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Oh. what a load of poo-poo. we have a town that barely pulls any outsides in - look at my little bit in "co-op council" - picture of the town hall story.
now they want to basically charge locals who do want to visit the few business's working in the town.
what a load of rubbish... this makes me very angry.

I think we should start laying flowers and condolence cards on the hi-street because these silly ideas will surly kill Wincanton all together.

NO PARKING CHARGES - at-least until we can actually develop enough to have a proper busy town.

Plus - i would like to add how much space we have for parking, loads of spaces always available, I can understand using charges as a deterrent to too many people parking somewhere busy. but really - Wincanton... we don't have a problem with finding parking so no need for a deterrent. - Putting charges in place will just push people further away from our business areas and stick them in big shops like Morrison's - don't get me Wrong I like M's, But I think its a bad Idea to wast all our money in a Non Wincanton based company... Use our butchers on the Hi-street, bring back our local green grouser, etc... cant be done if no-one uses the hi-street.

ANIMAL - ANGRY

If the council do choose to put this silly idea of parking money grabbers in place I feel we would of-course have a duty to boycott. - Just saying, we haven't paid and I think as a town full of people we do well to be fair and careful with our spaces, we all respect the parking rules and regs. and I don't think we have had a problem. if the council wants to make us pay for what we have always done, then we should stick a couple of fingers up.

The Animal
Is Here

Heyesey
Posts: 2

Re: Parking Meters in Wincanton – The Debate Continues
Reply #15 on : Sat March 01, 2014, 12:40:40

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"NO PARKING CHARGES" never was an option, and does not describe the current situation either. The car parks are charged, and paid for; the only question under discussion is 'by whom?' The people who actually use them, or the town residents via council tax?

i-sgallery
Posts: 6

Re: Parking Meters in Wincanton - The Debate Continues
Reply #16 on : Sun March 02, 2014, 12:26:18

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Can the town clerk confirm that if parking meters are introduced we can expect to see our council tax bills reduced by about £15 per household (the amount we currently pay to keep our car parks free).

russtics
Posts: 1

Re: Parking Meters in Wincanton – The Debate Continues
Reply #17 on : Sun March 02, 2014, 17:03:15

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There are residents that use the car parks because they have no off-road parking or a driveway (as a resident I believe I have contributed to the cause via my council tax) there are people who use the Berry's coach and park their cars whilst away, there are people who work in Wincanton and people who shop - lots of people using the car parks for differing reasons. As far as I can see, all this works really well and there are always enough parking spaces. Why on earth would you want to charge anyone to park their car in Wincanton? Its not Bath or Salisbury, its a very small struggling town, which given half a chance might survive, introduce car parking charges and the last one out might as well turn off the light!

Nick Colbert
Posts: 1

Re: Parking Meters in Wincanton – The Debate Continues
Reply #18 on : Sun March 02, 2014, 21:13:19

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At the last District Council elections Colin Winder and myself warned that the District Council had plans to charge for parking up their sleeve, Jane Lock, the Lib/dem candidate denied this was the case, we knew otherwise. Just over a year after the election the District Council put a gun to the Town Councils head and said Parking Meters were going up in Wincanton's car parks unless the Town Council were prepared to pay a "compensation tax" to the District Council. Following a well attended public meeting the virtually unanimous view was that as the District Council was holding a gun to the head of Wincanton and that the compensation tax was the least bad option.

It seems strange, given the strong feeling at that meeting, for that decision to be overturned without any further public consultation.

For myself I have always believed small market towns should have free car parks as the small High Streets are at a great disadvantage competing against the much larger centres.

Sadly I witness the District Council wasting money on a regular basis and using every tactic possible to take more from residents, parking charges are all about revenue to the District Council and not about car park management.

Both methods of charging are not fair in a small struggling market town, but as far as the District Council is concerned this is about money, not fairness.

i-sgallery
Posts: 6

Re: Parking Meters in Wincanton – The Debate Continues
Reply #19 on : Tue March 04, 2014, 12:21:40

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There is a glaring mistake in the minutes of last month's Town Council Meeting of 24th February as posted on the Town Hall notice board. The cost to rate payers to retain meter free car parks in the town is 30p per household per WEEK (as clearly stated at the meeting) and not 30p per DAY as minuted. The true cost is less than 4p per day to keep our car parks meter free (and may even be less than that considering all the new housing development that is taking place in Wincanton - i.e. more households will be paying Council Tax). Will the Town Clerk please let residents know the exact amount per day.
The minuting could be a simple mistake but unfortunately it does make it look as if we are paying a huge amount more than we actually are.
So, to sum up the choice is: car parking presently at less than 4p per day OR 60p per hour if we lose control of the town's car parks. It seems a 'no brainer' to me. How about you?

davidsmith
Posts: 4

Let's keep it real, please.
Reply #20 on : Tue March 04, 2014, 12:33:31

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"...less than 4p per day OR 60p per hour if we lose control of the town's car parks."

I'm in general agreement with your sentiments. Who wouldn't be? I only take issue with the prevailing assumption that the TC are about to screw us over and make the unthinkable decision. The evidence simply doesn't corroborate that assumption and I feel the level of ignorance which leads to the level of insolence towards to our Town Council is rather unacceptable.

A comparison of 4p/day to 60p/hour is a gross misrepresentation of the facts, at a scale I can only think to describe as 'political'. Correct context needs to me maintained in order to preserve accurate meaning. Statements like this are unproductive.

I'm hoping we'll get some official word from the TC to clear up all the assumptions people are making about where they stand on the matter. They haven't been forthcoming about how they feel, and the last meeting doesn't appear to have done anything to clear things up.

Give it a little time for the truth to come out before we start the propaganda machine.

Last Edit: March 04, 2014, 17:09:27 by davidsmith  

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