19 May 2025
Harpenden solicitor and campaigning Conservative Aaron Jacob considers the unseen impact of the on-street car parking charges in the town…
Scarcely a week goes by without some new development in the on-street car parking charges debacle. It has often been difficult to follow the political twists and turns.
Far more significant than who said or did what is the overall impact of these charges on Harpenden. The town continues to suffer as a result of their implementation, and they should be scrapped immediately.
Readers of the St Albans Times will already be familiar with the history of this issue, this newspaper having originally revealed that Liberal Democrat-controlled SADC wanted to change the long- standing one hour and two hour arrangements in Harpenden town centre to recoup revenue and balance its budget. Instead, I want to focus on what has happened since their implementation in February.
Almost immediately, there were allegations Harpenden had become a “ghost town”. Town councillor Richard Scott said: “As a Harpenden Lib Dem who has volunteered hundreds of hours campaigning to get local councillors and our MP elected, it is incredibly upsetting to see our hard-won local reputation shredded in a matter of months by these greedy and damaging SADC parking charges.”
These were very strong words indeed. Towards mid-late March, Cllr Paul de Kort, the Lib Dem leader of SADC, said: “We always review things, and you always should with any new scheme. Some of those reviews are already taking place, for example we’re looking at how we’re explaining to people how the system works.”
At the start of April, we learned of a salvo from Harpenden Town Council after serving SADC legal papers relating to the on-street parking charges.
Local Liberal Democrat MP Victoria Collins then intervened, calling on the council to simplify the process, look at reinstating the one hour free period, and for a continuous
review of the situation for local people and businesses. If not an outright rebuke, this was certainly a challenge to her Lib Dem colleagues on the district council.
We learned on the eve of the local elections that Cllr de Kort had agreed to a review of the scheme, but critically this was unlikely to be any sooner than 12 months after implementation.
Then as reported elsewhere in this issue, HTC decided not to pursue a Judicial Review over the charges.
Please forgive me if this article has missed a significant development, but it has been difficult to keep track of it all.
What should we make of all this? I would say two things. Firstly, despite the level of known opposition, and the amount of political activity surrounding these charges, matters are essentially as per the status quo, except for the fact that cash payments are now possible.
Secondly, far more significant than this political soap opera is the impact this is having on businesses in our town. Whilst this drama rolls on, it is Harpenden that pays the price.
The costs for businesses are direct and real, as the open letter supported by 50 well-known Harpenden businesses expressing concerns with parking charges attests. Furthermore, what is often underappreciated – especially by those in local government – is the counterfactual impact of new regulation: the jobs not created, the businesses not started, the innovations that never emerged. This is a crucial factor that must always be considered.
There are two broad economic principles which SADC must understand.
Firstly, as any economist will tell you, price is a signal. The introduction of on-street parking charges signals to residents, businesses, and visitors that barriers are being erected to trade and enterprise. Secondly, the more friction that you add between production and consumption, the less of both you will get. In an era of trying to encourage economic growth, this measure is self-defeating.
The implementation of these charges could not have come at a worse time. Interest rates are still high, inflation is still above the Bank of England target, employer national insurance has been increased, Council Tax has increased. The list goes on. Just when businesses and residents should have been given respite, SADC has done the opposite. There’s still time to reverse course.
