15 Jan 2026
Has SADC leader Cllr Paul de Kort spoken to any Harpenden businesses about the impact of the on-street parking charges?
Back in July, we reported how Cllr de Kort suggested businesses he had been in contact with had changed their minds about the fees and were now in favour.
Cllr de Kort told councillors: “There’s certainly many people in Harpenden who have changed their mind quite considerably about the parking charges. An awful lot of businesses have said to me, ‘well, I thought it was going to be difficult and I opposed it, but now, actually, I haven’t noticed a difference’.
“Others said it’s been much better. I can see some councillors in my group nodding because they’ve had the same experience, particularly people who work in business.”
This prompted reporters from the St Albans Times to visit the town and ask 11 different businesses for their views – none were in favour of the charges and none agreed with Cllr de Kort.
A new list of companies he has engaged with has recently published here: https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/business-support-services – and notably there are no Harpenden High Street independents included.
But Cllr de Kort said the business engagement list was not comprehensive as he spoke to many informally as well.
He explained: “It’s a good time to respond on this, as I spent some time yesterday afternoon on Harpenden High Street doing my own personal business, but also taking the opportunity to talk to a local business, Harpenden Building Society, about their imminent move into a prime High Street location and the drivers behind it.
“It was early afternoon on a traditionally slower day of the retail week, and I am pleased, but unsurprised, to report that nearly all the central on-street parking spaces were occupied.
“That’s the preamble to addressing the issue that has been raised about local business engagement. My initial response is that it is a false narrative to use the data published in order to assert that I haven’t engaged with any Harpenden businesses.
“It is important to realise that the engagement list is only of those that were formalised in my diary. There are many other conversations that I have, frequently in Harpenden, with individual businesses about their trade.
“For example, Artichoke Bake & More has arrived in Harpenden a couple of months ago; it can be found close to the new design outlet, Higgildy House, that opened at about the same time. I spoke with them about their trade and their expansion from their first location in Hemel Hempstead, whilst I purchased their excellent local produce.
“I also enjoy talking with staff at a Bower’s Parade located retailer, asking them about trade at this small, local, store. I have been constantly delighted to be informed that daily trade has been busy, which matches my own observation.
“Be reassured that I very much stand by my statement that I, and my fellow district councillors, have engaged with a wide range of High Street outlet operators who have spoken of benefits to footfall following the introduction on-street parking. They trade across a diverse range of enterprise including hairdressing, clothing, jewellery, optometry, pharmacy and food sales.
“I will not provide their names, as I do not have their permission to about this matter.
“And also, be assured that I have been very alive to the anecdotal reaction to the changes in on-street parking and have taken the opportunity, since the introduction, to make frequent informal visits to observe the ‘health’ of the High Street, and on each it has appeared to have been thriving.
“Additionally, amongst the listing are my meetings with Rothamsted Enterprises and Rothamsted Research. Around 650 people are employed on their joint site, and they are the largest, single employer in the district. They informed me in one of these discussions that these workers are present on site most days which means that they also can bring substantial footfall to the High Street. It is abundantly clear to me that, whenever the declining number of people who continue activity on the issue say ‘Harpenden businesses’, they only mean High Street retailers. My remit is much wider, given the much larger reach of SADC when compared, for example, to the Town Council.
“I also note that the Town Council and, I believe separate, Harpenden Society business surveys solely focus on the High Street retailers, not the many that operate in Southdown, Batford and Kinsbourne Green areas. If the campaigners’ assertion that on-street parking charges are significantly deterring High Street footfall is at all true, then these Harpenden-based businesses should have seen a noticeable uptick in turnover. I note a further inconsistency in the approach to defining ‘Harpenden business’ here.
“You will also see in my engagement listing that I attend or host business events where I am available to discuss with business organisations or individual owner/managers issues that relate to district council activities: spatial planning, waste collection, leisure and cultural services, property opportunities and, yes, parking charges and enforcement. I recall that at the last district council led business conference, one person from a Harpenden accountancy firm asked about the then, fairly recent, introduction of on-street parking charges; a question that I addressed in public at the forum.
“The simple, overarching, and most objective evidence about the significance of the impact of the on-street parking charges, that were introduced nearly a year ago, is found in the net change in High Street outlets. The retail vacancy rate a year ago was low in
Harpenden, compared to the rest of the district and very low when set against east of England comparators. It is now considerably lower.
“I am pleased that in this time period the Cotswold Company, Artichoke Bake & More and Higgildy House have chosen to open up here; that Harpenden Building Society will be moving to a long vacant High Street location next week and am reassured that the owners of the Wheatsheaf, Inn on the Green and, especially, local favourite, the Waffle House, have all seen fit recently to invest in their hospitality offer here in Harpenden too.
“As you know, I am very keen on hard facts. Short of a randomised, stratified survey across a wide geographical area of population who might visit Harpenden High Street (including villages and rural areas) and being able to see the comparative accounts of all businesses, it is nigh on impossible to ‘measure’ in any other way whether there has been a significant impact on footfall and spend.
“Of course, my overall desire is to see a thriving High Street, bucking the national trend. So, while I love data, I do understand that feelings amongst some are still running high and that the ‘talking down’ of the High Street by others in relation to parking changes may well have been detrimental.
“I have been listening and I know that council officers, as part of the parking review, are looking at the potential for some changes to the charging structure in some areas, whilst still maintaining the fundamental integrity of the on-street parking scheme’s objectives that were put forward in the formal consultation of 2024.”
Conservative group leader Cllr Matt Cowley, who asked for Cllr de Kort’s business engagements to be made public, responded: “The leader of the council said that businesses he’d spoken to had changed their minds on the Harpenden parking charges. Now, thanks to data he was forced to publish by our Conservative opposition group, we see the truth – he hasn’t met with any of Harpenden’s independent High Street retailers.
“Residents in our district deserve so much better. Politicians they can trust to be honest with them about tough decisions that impact their lives.
“Time and again, the Lib Dems have been found wanting. It’s time for change – time that the Lib Dems weren’t rewarded for failure with more and more seats on the council. If you vote Conservative in May, you’ll get a stronger opposition fighting for you. If you vote Lib Dem, you’ll get more councillors fighting to defend this kind of politics. It’s a clear choice.”
Harpenden business owner Elaine Bradford, who has led a campaign against the charges, added: “I am not sure that one business on that list is in Harpenden!
“It also says that he ‘engages with a wide range of local organisation through individual meetings’. That was one thing he specifically said he does not do when we requested a meeting with him on behalf of 50 local businesses.
“He still has not agreed to meet with the 50 businesses instead sending an email from his legal department and we have heard nothing since and yet he throws out comments that he is speaking to local businesses.
“To Cllr De Kort I would ask: Which local independent business in Harpenden have your spoken to? As there does not seem to be any on your official list? The invitation to meet with us very much remains on the table and we would be happy to meet with him to discuss the continued impact on local independent businesses in the town, what are you afraid of?“
