03 Nov 2024
It’s not too late for the district council administration to reverse planned charges for on-street parking in Harpenden.
Councillors and retailers alike have made an eleventh hour plea for SADC not to push ahead with proposals to introduce fees across the town centre.
It comes as the controversy hits the national media, with the Daily Telegraph reporting on retailers’ fears about the policy, which SADC wants to bring in after Christmas.
The parking fees story was originally broken by the St Albans Times in February, and became the main platform in the General Election campaign of Conservative candidate Nigel Gardner over the summer.
Following this publicity the SADC administration agreed to hold a public consultation on the proposals, which were included in the budget as a way of raising £185K for 2024/25 and almost £268K in subsequent years.
An e-petition opposing the scheme was signed by 1,774 people, with a further 1,264 and 6,022 signing paper and Change.org versions, and the council’s public realm committee is expected to report back on these responses and decide the next step forward at its meeting on November 12.
Many councillors from within the Lib Dem administration are opposing the plans.
Cllr Fiona Gaskell said: “Harpenden residents and retailers have made clear their very strong opposition to the proposals, and I understand their concerns. I also understand the need for SADC to balance its budget and the severe financial pressures it is under.
“In my opinion the proposed scheme does not recognise the many ways in which Harpenden is different from St Albans. I would like to see a compromise that offers residents the chance to park free in the town centre for more than 30 minutes.”
Cllr Dason Canning said he was completely against the SADC leadership’s decision to charge for parking in Harpenden High Street.
“I love living in Harpenden and part of what makes it so special living here is the open and vibrant High Street where it is so easy to pop into the centre to visit a local independent retailer and enjoy a variety of wonderful local businesses without having to worry about parking meters and having to scramble to input your vehicle on an app that doesn’t work or find a machine that is not broken.
“There always seems to be a broken machine somewhere in Harpenden and no warden in sight even though the budget for parking is quite considerable when you look at it.
“I am fully with the residents and retailers of Harpenden and the town council who have all made their voices heard. They have been consistently asking SADC to work with them to try and find a solution to parking that works for everyone, and I am particularly disappointed with the leadership, especially given that the leader who has been pushing hard for the introduction of these charges lives in Harpenden and doesn’t seem to understand the impact this will have on the town.
“Unfortunately, the leader also currently has the backing of the majority of St Albans councillors who are not particularly concerned with the well-being of Harpenden over their own ward interests.
“I find it laughable their latest suggestion of a 30-minute free period is actually less than the 40 minutes free originally proposed and this simply falls well short of their duty to take into consideration the views expressed in the public consultation.
“Should they not choose to respect public opinion and listen to the concerns of retailers and the town council, then the administration should most definitely be held accountable for not listening to the people of Harpenden as they were recently reminded in the last by-election.
“Pushing the budget gap as an excuse to parking charges has not turned out to be as much of an issue as originally thought. This year the budget deficit has been accommodated (without the charges) and there are plans next year to increase revenue at Jubilee Square among other things which will better help the council balance its books. False scaremongering should not have a place in a well-run administration.
“Even just proper enforcement of the existing restrictions in the centre of Harpenden if run properly would pay for itself.
“I would also be interested to know where our newly-elected MP stands with regards to this issue. She has been unusually quiet about this publicly since getting elected and this stance does not look good to the people in Harpenden who elected her.
“Hopefully the SADC leadership and public realm committee will finally see some sense and understand how detrimental their proposals will be to the residents of Harpenden, the independent retailers and the High Street which, if these policies are adopted is headed for the same decline and hostile public environment as so many other places around the country.”
Cllr Ed Moore, who represents Harpenden North and Rural for the district, said: “The saddening aspect of this parking issue is to consider what should be under discussion. The debate shouldn’t be between whether to charge for parking on the high street or not but how to best improve the town for all of us.
“It’s a fact the move to allow charging for parking on the high street came through the budget setting process of the public realm committee but that’s not the purpose of Traffic Regulation Orders. They are specifically assessed on areas like safety, benefits to public transport and cycling, routes to school and community facilities, air quality, congestion, and environmental benefits,
“On this basis the move to charge seems to have been inadequately worked through. Which of these measures support the move and how were the pros and cons balanced?
“On the flip side to this though the arguments put forward by some that we should stay as we are seems equally badly argued. There’s been evidence for years that Harpenden is highly congested, even to the point the Harpenden Society paid for its own consultancy report to provide evidence that congestion should and could be improved.
“The town council themselves in their Neighbourhood Plan – which was written by the then-Conservative administration and agreed in a residents’ referendum in 2019 – acknowledges cars are a problem and the impact of them should be reduced. I’ve also yet to see helpful evidence put forward by those against charging how local towns such as Berkhamsted that do charge on the high street seem not to be impacted. Evidence helps make better policy making, we need more of it!
“Any new TRO can be reversed as easily as it is put in, the council simply raises a new TRO to change the restrictions to something else or to remove them entirely. If a new holistic approach involving all interested parties, backed up by research and evidence leads to a new set of proposals then we should put them in. What I wouldn’t like to see at that point however (if charging does go ahead) is SADC choosing not to support any new ideas because it may reduce parking income, that would be a truly sad day.”
Town councillor Richard Scott, in his role as chair of the corporate policy and finance committee – whose remit includes the High Street – has been an outspoken opponent of the proposals from the onset.
He said this week: “I strongly oppose SADC’s proposed parking charges in and around our High Street. These charges are unnecessary, unwanted, and threaten the vitality of our town centre, particularly the independent retailers who make Harpenden special.
“I stand by the resolutions passed by Harpenden Town Council on July 22 and September 23, which detail the harm that SADC’s proposed parking charges will cause and also set out practical measures to improve parking in Harpenden, including:
1. Allowing one hour of free parking, with no return within one hour and a maximum stay of one hour.
2. Upgrading bay infrastructure with clearer markings and signage.
3. More effective enforcement of parking regulations.
4. Consistent maximum stays across all bays, including disabled bays.
5. Adding minimal additional loading bays where there is a clear need.
6. Introducing flexible permit options to support retail and voluntary workers.
7. Providing better information on town centre parking options for visitors.
“If SADC has concluded that it cannot provide fit-for-purpose parking services in Harpenden without increasing charges, I invite them to engage in discussions to transfer these responsibilities to Harpenden Town Council.”
Conservative district Cllr Matt Cowley, who has also campaigned ardently against the scheme, added: “Parking charges in Harpenden have become a hugely controversial issue for the Lib Dem administration – illustrated by their resounding defeat in a district council by-election in a Harpenden seat they had won comfortably less than six months earlier.
“From a failure to consult before the budget decision was made or before voters could have their say in May’s local elections; to a lack of obvious consideration for the impacts on Harpenden’s residents and businesses; to a total failure at Full Council to take accountability for their mistakes and apologise – this risks becoming an issue that clouds everything else the district council wants and needs to be getting on with urgently.
“And it is still unclear that these parking charges are needed at all. From the parking accounts and answers to my questions at Full Council, it seems that Harpenden’s parking charges will be subsidising other council services. The leader of the council had no knowledge of the figures in the accounts on such an important issue and no explanation for what Harpenden shoppers will be paying for.
“The Lib Dems have tried to justify these charges in a number of different ways, but all of them come down to demanding a fundamental change to the way Harpenden residents use our High Street to fill a hole in their budget. I believe – and so I think do residents – that there are other ways to pay for this. Starting with better enforcement of the parking rules that already exist in Harpenden.
“In politics, it isn’t always easy to admit when you’ve made a mistake. But if you want to lead, it is always the right thing to do. I hope that the Lib Dems can now show some leadership and think again about bringing in parking charges.”
But Lib Dem Cllr Pip Liver feels SADC has no choice in the matter: “As you are probably aware the district council’s budget requires a considered balancing of the finances which involves making difficult decisions which not everyone will agree with.
“The district council has engaged with residents through the consultation process on parking and this illustrates the willingness of the council to listen to the concerns of residents and where possible respond to them.”
Retailers still fighting the scheme include Lara Wares from Threads gift shop, who said: “We have literally spoken to thousands of customers over the last few months and conducted a survey, so we have a detailed understanding of how our customers will be affected. From our research, we anticipate a drop in footfall of between 30-50 per cent. This isn’t sustainable for almost any business, especially given the sky-high commercial rents in Harpenden.
“I appreciate that the council’s budget needs to balance, but their proposals are so drastic and costly to implement that a complete rethink is needed. It’s ridiculous that we could go from on-street parking in Harpenden being free, to it being THE most expensive place in Hertfordshire or any similar UK town to park.”
The Harpenden Society also remains fiercely opposed to the plans, and chair Jeff Phillips said: “On-street parking should be free for at least one hour, as retailers have advocated.
“Beyond that SADC needs to respond positively to HTC’s proposal that parking in Harpenden needs to be looked at ‘in the round’ which includes many other important elements like improved bay markings and signage; fixed maximum stays in disabled bays; the introduction of more flexible permit options that support workers in the retail and voluntary sectors. A process which we’d be happy to contribute to.
“However, whatever is ultimately decided it needs to include a tighter enforcement regime. We also want to see greater transparency in the way the parking accounts are prepared – there’s been a lot of talk about losses being made on the parking accounts but no-one’s explained why but a new cost in the accounts in recent years is a charge called ‘Non-direct costs & Depreciation’.
“Finally, SADC’s leadership needs to be held to account for the appalling way they have gone about this whole episode.”
