30 Apr 2025
A disgruntled retailer has set up a petition calling on SADC to reverse the decision to charge for on-street parking in Victoria Street, Lattimore Road and London Road.
Motorists are offered one 30-minutes free period a day, with additional charges on top for a maximum of two hours, between 8.30am-6.30pm Mondays to Saturdays.
Although small signs advertising the changes have been installed, there are no on-street parking machines and publicity surrounding the charges was minimal.
Now Jean Dennis, who runs Gallery 105 in Victoria Street, is calling for the community’s support to challenge the scheme, which she says is confusing for drivers and having a detrimental impact on trade.
A petition she has set up on the SADC website says: “The council’s parking strategy fails to properly or sufficiently consider the impact on the St Albans economy, local shops or residents.
“We believe the decision is already damaging to the local economy and is adversely affecting residents and their decision to shop locally.
“We believe that the decision to charge for on-street parking in St Albans city centre was wrongly made without any proper consultation, and is in any event unreasonable.”
Jean thinks the council should reintroduce a free parking period of one hour with the opportunity to use a ticket machine not requiring a phone.
“The current system is ridiculous. You have to input two different codes for your free half-hour and paid parking, there are no machines available so the only option is to use mobile phones, and the signage is virtually invisible. Too many genuine people have already received tickets as they believed they had 30 minutes free without having to register.
“This whole scheme is just a money-making venture by a council which consistently shows itself to be anti-car and anti-business.
“I would urge as many people as possible to sign the petition in the hope that we can reverse this unpopular system. Given that our MP actually lives in the street we all hope she will show support for the change.”
You can sign the petition here.
