27 Feb 2025
Week two of the Harpenden parking charging saga. It is no longer half-term with everyone off skiing, as some social media posts suggested was the reason why the town has been deserted recently.
Claims that reduced footfall was down to the school holidays have been refuted as the downturn has continued. Parking bays remain unused and the streets are still empty.
Our conversations with business owners on what should be a busy Tuesday morning reflect the pitiful state of the high street, with many claiming money-grabbing SADC seems determined to turn Harpenden into a ghost town.
Since February 17 a complicated pay-for-parking system has come into play in the town centre.
This relies on apps, smartphones, location numbers and a free half hour which has also thrown a spanner into the works when it comes to choosing how long you want to park.
Add into the mix the fact that you might also be charged 10p for a text reminder about the ‘free’ half hour unless you have notifications turned off on the app.
Charges apply between 9am and 6pm and you cannot stay longer than two hours, or return to park again any less than two hours later.
The cost of an hour with the free 30 minutes is £1.25 while the two-hour cost will be £3.75 including the free half hour (see what we mean?).
So what do retail staff feel the impact of the charges has been, more than a week since they were implemented?
Amber Townsend, who works at Brad & Dills, said the charges are really affecting people who live out of town and come in for work: “There used to be places we could park for free a couple of years ago. It’s been a developing situation and now it has become impossible.
“It feels very unfair. I have to pay more than £10 for the whole day which is quite a lot, but if I got a parking ticket it would be half a day’s pay. Everybody has noticed how much quieter it is out there in the shops.”
Staff at Friends hairdressers told us that they’ve noticed the charges are causing their customers added stress and highlighted the expense of staying longer than two hours.
They said processes like hair colouring take longer than the maximum two hours allowed on the roads nearby meaning they have to pay for a whole day in a car park at a cost in excess of £10.
Hasan Aslaw of Turkish restaurant Okka said: “It is affecting the amount of customers we get. We’ve been very quiet since the new charges came in. People just don’t want to pay five or ten pounds on top of their meal or shopping or whatever.”
Gemma Dormer, dispensing optician at Harpenden Eye Centre said that she has noticed a significantly reduced number of customers.
“It’s been totally dead. What has struck me is that people aren’t going to as many places as they would have previously. One lady came in for her eye test and then looked at the time and said she wasn’t going to be able to do the other things she had wanted to do because her free half hour had run out.
She said this meant customers are visiting fewer businesses during a visit to the town. Whereas previously somebody might have bought a birthday card, a coffee to take-away and a bag of shopping from one of the supermarkets, now they have to restrict their purchases due to time.
Fiona Thomas, owner of Oui boutique, agrees, and said she has noticed a 15 per cent decline in customers’ spend per receipt: “The lack of people last week was nothing to do with it being the school half term holidays because this week is just the same. It’s still really quiet.”
Fiona said previously people would drive around looking for a space and perhaps be inspired to pop in and buy something they had seen in the window. Now they can’t do that without paying to park or registering their time of arriving which means they are losing those impulse buyers.
“Before these machines were here, if you bumped into a friend and fancied going for a coffee, you could legitimately move your car into another space after your free time was up. You now can’t do that because you aren’t permitted to stay in the town after the two hours.”
Owner of News4U Nitin Shah said: “It’s become very quiet with lots of empty parking spaces everywhere as you can see.
“Nobody is parking. People who do visit me say they have no time to chat and I’m really missing the customer conversation.
“I get so many elderly people usually but less so now as they don’t like using the machines and aren’t very text savvy.”
Barry Woolston, owner of Molasses House art gallery, said: “I was in the middle of an in-depth discussion with a potential customer recently when they received a text and had to dash off, understandably, to move their car. The purchase of art is a considered process, it’s not a case of a quick sale, and customers need the time to contemplate what they are buying.
“This is ruining the community vibe of Harpenden where people could enjoy a leisurely walkabout and a chat.”
Lara Wares from gift shop Threads said: “Our footfall was 7 per cent down compared to half term last year. But we have been generally running at least 3 per cent up year on year for the last six months so it’s fair to say our footfall was at least 10 per cent down, and I’m sure it will get much worse as loads of customers hadn’t realised the parking charges had started yet.”
SADC councillors and officers alike have always insisted the introduction of on-street parking fees in Harpenden would have little or no impact on trade.
A report by council officers to the public realm committee stated: “Whilst we understand residents and businesses will have concerns about increases to car parking charges and whether there will be a potential impact on businesses and the vibrancy of the town centre, there is no evidence to support that there will be a negative impact on the high street.”
Cllr Helen Campbell, SADC lead for parking, claimed the charges were a positive move for businesses: “The main objection to the changes, raised in the consultation, was concern that they could have an adverse effect on businesses and the vibrancy of the high street, but we have seen no evidence to support this. In fact, a quicker turnover at the bays, brought about by charging, could be helpful to businesses.”
She previously commented: “I believe the changes will benefit the community as a whole by promoting active travel and discouraging people from parking on the street longer than they need.”
But it was council leader Cllr Paul de Kort who was most vocal in his criticism of any suggestion that the introduction of parking charges would have a detrimental impact on retailers.
He told the St Albans Times: “OK, cards on the table, I hear this is going to destroy the High Street, but I don’t buy it.
“I can’t take seriously the politicians who put out a leaflet that said we are going to turn Harpenden into a wasteland like St Albans city centre. That was a gift to me, because I didn’t have to answer anything else in the leaflet when they put that out.
“When the level of hyperbole is so high you’ve got to say let’s take a reasonable view of this. So here’s the thing, I haven’t found any piece of research that says parking charges are a key deterrent to people going into town or city centres…
“I’m not dismissing the issue, but it’s overblown. I would welcome it if somebody could show me a piece of well-put together research on the High Street that says a council put up car park charges near a city centre and it blew the whole place up. That’s different from getting rid of all the parking spaces.”
But Harpenden town councillor Richard Scott, who has been campaigning against the charges long before they were introduced, is pleading to shoppers not to give up on Harpenden High Street.
“You might be tempted to shop elsewhere, to order that thing you wanted from Amazon instead of popping into Harpenden to visit a local retailer. Please stand by our local businesses. Keep visiting our town. Keep shopping in Harpenden. We have an amazing community of local businesses, if we lose them, we lose them.”
He said SADC imposed these charges without a councillor vote, so they can reverse them without a councillor vote.
“Your councillors are elected to serve you and our community first, not their parties. Write to them. With courtesy and respect at all times please. Tell them how you feel about these charges. Use your lived experience to provide real life examples of how they are affecting your day to day lives here in Harpenden. Tell them that you would like the charges and the parking meters removed.”
He is urging residents to question county council candidates when they are out canvassing to determine their stance on the charges: “If and when someone from one of the parties knocks on your door, or leaves you a leaflet with contact details, ask them their position on High Street parking, and if they will work with the town council to reverse the district council decision.
“Let’s keep fighting. It’s not over yet.”
One local resident who has been very vocal in his condemnation of the charges was Jeremy Vance, who sent an in-depth criticism of the measures to various district councillors.
He said: “It has been a week since the new approach began and the implications on the town have already been significant.
“Footfall in many shops is down by between 30-40 per cent, and this comparison is against previous half term weeks. Parking spaces are not being used – every day this week when I have passed through the town, there are numerous spaces available and there are noticeably fewer people visiting the centre.
“I suspect that this will continue to be the case, because residents feel sadly let down by their democratically elected representatives who seem to have failed to listen to or act on their feedback and opinions.”
He accused SADC of implementing a confusing scheme with the purpose of catching out motorists and generating more revenue from fines.
“I’m sure that the councillors who supported and drove through the changes will continue to believe that they are ideologically sound and pursuing an agenda which, in time, will prove successful and effective. It may even generate some of the funds that it is supposedly targeted to achieve.
“However, the damage it has done to the reputation of the Liberal Democrats in the town will be far more substantial and long-lasting.
“If you and your colleagues were politically savvy and had sufficient nous, you would be searching for a way to reverse the policy as soon as practicable. Most reasonable people understand the need to pay for parking and the financial challenges that SADC is facing. There was a better way to approach this challenge, in a more measured and collaborative fashion.
“Regrettably, the adversarial approach adopted by SADC towards Harpenden, embodied in the pronouncements of Cllr Campbell, have hardened local opinion. I think that you will see the results of such opinion in May. Where we have landed is neither liberal nor democratic.”
