Retail bosses in Nantwich have welcomed plans to review the town’s car parking charges.
Cheshire East Council announced a major review across the borough would take place in the key towns, including Nantwich.
And today retailers who would welcome reduced charges, also called for more availability, clearer signs, and better policing of Love Lane, Civic hall and Snow Hill car parks.
Shaun Cafferty (pictured) is a board director for South Cheshire Chamber of Commerce, responsible for the Nantwich area.
He says he has been in discussions with Cheshire East for some time about parking issues.
Mr Cafferty, who also sits on Nantwich Town Council’s retail and town centre forum, said: “I welcome this initiative, and have already been in touch with them about this.
“To be fair, we have been having discussions for some months now at various levels within Cheshire East about parking.
“Not just cost, but availability, the policing of it and how it can be better signed so visitors to the town can easily find our car parks rather than driving aimlessly about through our streets adding to congestion.”
Although car parking is a hot topic in most towns, he believes Nantwich is a special case.
“We serve a large rural community and public transport solutions are less available to us,” he added.
“The retail economy is our lifeblood as a town, so it’s important people are motivated to visit us, can get here easily, and park conveniently and affordably.
“It’s also important employees of local firms can park too, or they may relocate out of town and we might lose jobs and the spending power they represent, especially during the week.
“And the town residents also suffer by large numbers of vehicles parking on their roads.
“So it’s not all about pricing, and there are no magic wand solutions in the current financial climate.
“We will need to be creative, and maybe look for lots of small solutions rather than one big one.
“But so far Cheshire East have shown a genuine desire to listen to input from retailers and businesses as well as residents, and we will continue to work with them to get some tangible improvements to our parking situation as quickly as possible.”
Cllr Michael Jones, Leader of Cheshire East Council, has vowed to develop a “more attractive car parking policy” for Nantwich and other towns like Crewe, Congleton, Macclesfield and Knutsford.
A report setting out a set of key recommendations will be put before the council’s cabinet for consideration on November 11.
I agree in general with the comments even though I have, personally, rarely found difficulty in finding a parking place in Nantwich when I need one. The comment about “the retail economy is our lifeblood” is actually difficult to believe when you consider that a lot of the shops in Nantwich still think it is OK to be closed on certain working days to suit themselves. We live in a 24/7 economy. Shops that can’t be bothered to open until 10 a.m. and close at 4 p.m. and in addition are not open for 6 days every week should not grumble if customers go elsewhere. It’s not a parking issue, it’s an attitude issue. You don’t find shops in Chester, for example, which are not open from 9 to 5.30 six days every week and some of them also open on Sundays.
Some suggestions for Nantwich:
1. Walk.
2. Reduce short journey bus fares so that they are comparable with (or less than) car parking rates.
3. Utilise Nantwich FC car park, at the same price as town centre car parks.
4. Utilise school car parks at weekends.