11 Sep 2024
Almost a third of Harpenden’s population oppose proposals to charge for on-street parking in the town centre, district councillors have heard.
Last night’s meeting of the public realm committee saw a petition against the scheme presented to councillors by Fiona Thomas from boutique Oui.
She said: “The petition calls for you to reverse the decision to charge for on-street parking in Harpenden. The petition has been signed by 1,774 residents, which is the second largest number of signatures for an SADC e-petition, second only to that of 2018, the petition protesting against the Thameslink timetable cuts.
“We also ran identically worded paper and Change.org versions of the petition, which received a further 1,264 and 6,022 signatures respectively. That’s a total of 7,286. This equates to around 29 per cent of the Harpenden population and is far in excess of the 1,200 votes typically required to elect a district councillor.
“The council’s parking strategy fails to consider the negative impact it will have on Harpenden’s independent retailers. The Hertfordshire Growth Board stated: ‘Our town centres and high streets are bustling with independent shops and cafés. It’s these independent businesses run by local people that help to keep us fuelled and they are part of the reason why so many visitors come’.
“Moreover, in July this year the Liberal Democrats campaigned in Harpenden under the General Election manifesto that included the following commitments: ‘Every vote for a Liberal Democrat is a vote to elect a strong local champion who will fight for a fair deal for you and your community’, and ‘We will support entrepreneurs and back small businesses to help our High Streets’.
“Over the last week we have been running a survey in our shops asking customers firstly: ‘Did you use free on-street parking today?’ and secondly if yes: ‘Would you have visited the shop today if you had to pay to park or only had 20 minutes free parking?’
“A sample of 150 shoppers reported that 35 per cent of the total number of customers would be lost. I put it to you that many independent retailers would be unable to withstand this loss of trade and would be forced to close. Harpenden is different from St Albans in that it is a community hub comprised of schools, doctors, dentists, churches and mainly independent retailers within the town centre. My customers who use on-street parking are often popping in for an hour to do two or three errands or to drop their children off at clubs. Free parking is particularly important for young parents and older residents. They also pop into the town centre to meet people to support their mental health and avoid feelings of loneliness. Longer stay customers are prepared to park in car parks so this is not the issue.
“Cllr de Kort confirmed in the press [The St Albans Times] that the decision to charge for parking had already been taken. This decision should not have been made without consultation. The current proposals are opposed by Harpenden residents, Harpenden retailers, Harpenden Town Council and the Harpenden Society alike. The final decision about the scheme is awaited with huge trepidation and it’s very much hoped that in line with other villages Harpenden gets the reprieve it deserves.
“We will consider our options promptly once the full scheme is announced if the decision is the wrong one for Harpenden residents and retailers. We believe that there are better options to balance your budget, including a small addition charge on council tax, improving policing of the existing parking restrictions and an improved range of permits for residents and retail employees. In particular we urge you to consider retaining the free one hour parking.
“These options, properly thought out, could generate your required revenue and encourage rather than deter the visitors to our High Street.
“We are looking forward to hearing your discussions and have three specific questions:
“1. How can you justify introducing charges that will be the highest in Hertfordshire and that local residents and retailers believe will significantly reduce the footfall in the town?
“2. In SADC’s rejection of Harpenden Town Council’s suggestion to set up a joint working group you stated that due consideration must be given to all consultation responses received as this is the key component of the decision-making process. To what extent have you revised your initial proposals in response to the consultation feedback, and will you consider maintaining the free one-hour period?
“3. We understand your intent is to implement the proposals in October. Having not been informed of the planned changes until July, many of the Harpenden independent retailers are now already committed to investments and stock, staffing and promotions for the next six months, so we therefore request that you delay the implementation for six months to allow us to factor the drop in footfall in our buying forecast to mitigate against potential losses. Will SADC commit to this?”
Cllr Matt Cowley said: “It will come as little surprise to colleagues that I fully support the goals of the petition in removing the plans to charge for parking on Harpenden High Street. It is difficult to put into words the level of public anger that there is in Harpenden about these parking charges.
“I have not seen a political issue on a local issue that gets repeated back to me when people see me in the street other than this one. People are genuinely furious, not just because of the decision that the council might or might not take after the consultation, they’re furious because they see this as a decision which the council took without talking to them, without engaging with them, without listening to them, and is now sort of pretending to talk to them in order to justify the decision…
“I do think there’s some merits to thinking about this from a public trust point of view, as well as from a parking point of view. It strikes me that when the council did the budget last year that would have been the time to do the consultation, to figure out what could be supported, what revenue that might bring in, what the implications might be for people in Harpenden… before people felt like a decision had been made.
“I know we can’t go back in time, but I would encourage us, if there is any way we can, to push this into the next budget cycle so we can take this consultation and have a proper debate and discussion about this as we go into the budget setting for next year…
“People in Harpenden do not want to have to pay for parking, they will drive elsewhere, and because Harpenden is in a valley on two sides it is difficult for older people to walk down to the High Street and walk back. This is causing real concern in Harpenden and I urge colleagues to give us a chance to think again…”
Cllr Matt Fisher echoed Cllr Cowley’s comments and added: “I would respectively question the depth and breadth of any modelling and the consultations that have or have not happened…
“Are we attempting to mend something that perhaps is not broken?”
Cllr Gill Haynes asked about the timetable, and said what wasn’t clear was when a decision might come out of the review of the feedback.
Chair Cllr Helen Campbell said as far as she was aware it would be a matter of weeks, but assistant director for public realm (regulatory and compliance) Robin Ray said they had received around 1,200 responses which needed examination and so initial meetings were going to take place to go through these and decide whether any changes needed to be made.
He said the council would more than likely know their position by October, but there was a limit in what they could change.
Cllr Dason Canning asked what alternative proposals were being considered which would allow the decision to be reversed, or at least the one hour free parking to be maintained.
Cllr Campbell said it would be completely inappropriate at this stage to address the question in any more detail while the consultation feedback was being examined because it is a legal process which needs to run its course.
Robin added that he would be surprised if the proposals went ahead in their current format as they needed to consider everything.
Cllr Teresa Heritage asked why SADC did not have a proper consultation after the budget setting, instead of going straight to a Road Traffic Act consultation, to which Robin said it was a formal consultation which was being taken seriously and no decision had yet been made.
Committee chair Cllr Helen Campbell summarised: “It is clear that there are concerns in Harpenden and when the consultation process has been completed things will become clearer…”
She suggested that the committee requested that a senior council officer come to their next meeting on November 12 and report back. Because no decision had yet been made, she added, they could not deliver on the requests of the petition at this stage. This was subsequently agreed.
