Parking

[Slacker]

As promised, and reversing the evening parking charges brought in by the Lib Dems, free parking before 10am and after 3pm Monday to Saturday and all day Sunday for Chesterfield residents in the pay and display car parks.

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A scheme which offers free parking for residents is being extended by Chesterfield Borough Council in a move designed to boost trade in local shops.

 

Residents will receive a permit with their council tax bills which, from 1 April, enables them to park for free in all Chesterfield Borough Council pay and display car parks, except those next to Queen’s Park:

 

Before 10am Mondays to Saturdays
After 3pm Mondays to Saturdays
All day on Sundays and Bank Holidays
Councillor John Burrows, Chesterfield Borough Council leader and executive member for regeneration, said: “High Streets up and down the country are facing real challenges due to the general economic climate and the growth of online shopping.

 

“By increasing significantly the successful free parking scheme we will attract more residents into Chesterfield town centre to come and use local shops. This will provide a welcome boost to the local economy while saving our local residents money at a time of financial hardship.

 

“We are also looking to improve the customer experience in terms of getting to and using our car park sites. We want to create car parking facilities that are competitively priced, accessible and consumer friendly.

 

”We agreed to review parking policy when we were elected and this enables us to do that. It provides significant improvements for residents, commuters and visitors, while also putting in place a sensible pricing structure for future years to provide the finance needed to make these changes.”

 

The council will assist commuters who work in the town by offering permits to reduce parking prices. As part of the plan Ashgate Road will be turned into a Park and Walk site offering £1 a day parking for commuters.

 

Work will also be done to address issues raised by visitors, who wanted to see car parks that were customer friendly in terms of being clean, tidy, and easy to use with a range of payment options and machines that give change.

 

The moves follow a review of parking in the town which looked at the facilities people want and the way investment needed to make that happen.

 

A new charging structure has also been put in place to control price rises needed to pay for the extra investment in providing safe, secure car parks with CCTV cover.

 

Future annual price increases at car parks will alternate between those on the edge of the town centre and those in key central locations to avoid across the board year-on-year increases at all car parks.

 

This means that charges will increase by 20p an hour at multi storey car parks, the New Magistrates Court, Parish Church and other fringe location car parks from 8 April this year but will then not increase in 2014/15. They will go up by a further 10p in 2015/16.

 

Prices at Soresby Street, Holywell Cross and Rose Hill car parks will remain the same in 2013/14, go up by 10p an hour in 2014/15 and will remain frozen at that level in 2015/16.

 

The money generated by this will be used to pay for the improvements requested by customers in the parking review. In 2013/14 this will involve:

 

Improvements to the interior of the New Beetwell Street multi storey car park
The introduction of permits offering parking for £2.50 a day at the Hollis Lane and Spa Lane car parks and £3 a day at Albion Road car park
This will be followed over the following three years by:

 

Offering easier payment options, such as providing change and payment by phone
Improving the quality of car parks
Improving signs directing people to car parks
 

[therealjr]

Pay and Display car parks?
So am I right in saying that means you can't use Soresby Street, Rose Hill East or West or either of the Multi Storeys?
Leaving Holywell Cross aka the Donut as the only real alternative as being close to the Town Centre for most people?
The car park that will go under the Northern Gateway Proposal?

[pureparty]

isn't all around the Town Hall pay&display carparks, also St Marys Gate carpark is pay&display..I think?

[therealjr]

if by round the town hall you mean the on street parking that is governed by DCC and would still be chargeable.
Those left would be Albion Road (though that is normally full early doors with Town Hall employees)
The fringe car parks on St Marys gate, Spa Lane, Durrant Road etc which are offered as all day parking for commuters and are thus usually full and as I say Holywell Cross which in theory is on its way out.

put it this way
According to its website the borough has 2566 parking spaces permanently available to it (discounting NEDDC which is saturdays only and the coach park which is 20 mins max).
This scheme makes 1650 of those spaces unavailable. This rises to 1905 when Holywell Cross goes.
So the residents for their 'free' parking (the car parks put £1m into the coffers every year, where is that shortfall going to be made up from?) will be fighting for 661 spaces or approx 1/4.
But it makes for a great headline.

[Slacker]

The barrier ones wouldn't have the technology to distinguish between residents and non-residents, ie the disc that comes with the council tax bill.

Donut is in the right place for people going to the Winding Wheel or Pomegranate or going for an evening meal.

[therealjr]

The barrier ones wouldn't have the technology to distinguish between residents and non-residents, ie the disc that comes with the council tax bill.

Donut is in the right place for people going to the Winding Wheel or Pomegranate or going for an evening meal.

Actually the St Marys Gate Car park is the right one as you are much close to the venues and you don't run the risk of being mown over by the idiots who congregate on the donut.

And surely it's not beyond the wit of some electronics genius to provide a pass that overrides the exit barriers? After all YOU'VE got one!!!!!!!