04 Aug 2024
The Harpenden Society has issued a damning indictment of the district council’s consultation into free on-street parking in the town.
As originally revealed in the St Albans Times, SADC wants to change the long-standing one hour and two hour arrangements in Harpenden town centre in order to recoup revenue and balance its budget.
The proposed charges will be up to 20 minutes free (two free sessions per vehicle per day), up to one hour £2.50, up to two hours £5 and SADC say they are necessary to effectively manage the control and turnover of limited waiting parking places.
But the Society says the introduction of fees will have a detrimental impact on the local economy.
Chairman Jeff Phillips said: “Fundamentally, the Society believes that the current proposals are not fit for purpose. Local retailers argue that the imposition of the proposed charges ‘will be damaging to the local economy and will directly and adversely affect the residents and their decision to shop locally’ where trading conditions are already challenging as a result of changes in consumer behaviour and the cost of living crisis. We fully recognise this is a significant risk.
“Furthermore, the provision of 20 minutes free parking meets no one’s needs as the enforcement will prove to be extremely difficult. The consequence is that residents will ignore the time limits, much as they do now.
“The result is likely to be more chaos and potential damage to the town council’s strategic objective of supporting a vibrant High Street, an objective we fully support.”
However, the Society accepts there are legitimate issues to be addressed, both in terms of the need for SADC to secure additional income to fund its budget deficit, a real need for standardisation of parking time limits and charges, and the dire need for a substantial improvement to central Harpenden’s chronic traffic and parking problems.
Mr Phillips said: “As regards SADC’s income requirements, we believe there needs to be more transparency. From our analysis, the parking proposals (which include changes other than the imposition of on-street parking charges) appear, at face value, to raise far more than that needed to cover the costs of the district’s parking services.
“If this is the case, there is a legal obligation firstly to apply any such surpluses to improving such services, before funds are available to meet the council’s budget deficit.
“HTC’s own view is that no permanent changes should be made until a thorough review of parking has been undertaken. We support this but also recognise that SADC may well have to press ahead with some parking charge changes to meet their budget deficit for 2024/25.”
The Society believes that if SADC presses ahead with the plans, then this should be for a limited time only, allowing for a proper review of parking in Harpenden to be undertaken.
It proposes introducing the following changes up to the end of March 2025:
- One hour’s free parking in all town centre parking bays should be allowed (both the retailers and HTC have said this should be the minimum allowance);
- One further hour in the above bays should be available at a cost of £2.50, thereby extracting a premium over the equivalent car park charge for two hours. This should encourage the use of car parks for such longer stays, with an added benefit of delivering a greater turnover of on-street parking;
- Parking permits, for which a modest annual charge can be made, should be offered to all residents, not just senior citizens, allowing a maximum of up to three hours free parking in the car parks, as is the case in many other parts of the country;
- Finally, SADC should start to invest in technology and additional Community Enforcement Officers across the town centre streets and car parks and be seen to be visibly adopting a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to illegal parking – particularly parking on double yellow lines and on pavements.
Mr Phillips added: “Our hope is that, even at this stage, SADC recognise that parking is a complex matter with a host of issues yet to be resolved, and will defer any permanent changes until a full review has taken place.
“As members of HTC’s transport forum, the Society is more than happy to be involved with both SADC and HTC in this review.”
Meanwhile, a petition opposing the introduction of the charges has now received more than 5,700 signatures of support.
You can find it here: https://www.change.org/p/object-to-the-planned-introduction-of-on-street-parking-charges-in-harpenden
Persons wishing to object or make comments to these proposals must do so by visiting stalbans.gov.uk/TROS where you can find all SADC Active Traffic Regulation Orders – On Street (Highway). Please click proposals in consultation where you can add your comments, view or upload supporting documents.
Or make representations in writing to: The Parking Development Team – St Albans City and District Council, Civic Centre, St Albans, AL1 3JE or by email to parking.development@stalbans.gov.uk quoting map reference PPB/01 by August 15 2024.
