Open Letter to Marcus Jones MP

Dear Marcus,
Car parking policy – the Cardigan experience
I thought I would follow up the media interest in the case of Cardigan where, due to vandalism of parking machines in local car parks, it was reported that many of the shops in Cardigan’s town centre benefited from the temporary availability of free parking.
I thought it might be helpful, given your review of off-street parking policy, for me to make three points. Forgive me if you have already taken these points into account in your review;
1.
You will recall that the BPA and the Association of Town and City Management undertook a major piece of research to assess the impact of parking on the high street. In ‘Rethink! Parking on the high street’ we concluded that there is some evidence of car park prices being too high in smaller market towns particularly where the council is the sole provider of car parking. Cardigan is clearly an example of this.
However, it would be wrong to conclude that Cardigan’s experiences would be replicated in other towns and cities where relationships between drivers and car park provision are different and much more complex. The research showed that in the vast majority of towns and cities there is no such evidence of a relationship between car park prices and the attractiveness of the high street. Indeed, on the whole motorists choose where they want to park based on accessibility and convenience, not on price. Safety is the second most important consideration after accessibility.
The report concluded that there is no clear relationship between car park charges and the amenities on offer in a location. Subsequent research by London councils, Erasmus University in Rotterdam (as there is a European dimension here) and our own research for our Safer Parking Scheme which we operate on behalf of the police confirms this conclusion.
So I do believe there are lessons to be learned from Cardigan but those lessons should not be applied uniformly to all high streets where convenience of parking and safety are of greater importance to the vast majority of drivers.
2.
As you know, there is no such thing as free parking. Someone has to pay for the upkeep of car parks and must ensure that what is provided in the way of car parking for high streets in towns and cities up and down the country is a valued asset delivering a high
standard of service to users. The BPA is committed to raising standards in car parks (the Safer Parking Scheme referred to above is a direct example of this) but we have always recognised that the risk of introducing free parking – apart from the problem of all day parkers using the car park denying spaces to shoppers – is that councils will not invest the money received through charges back into the car park in order to generate and maintain those higher standards.
3.
Finally, much of the work we have done demonstrates that there is a need for local authorities to be flexible in how they manage their car parks where they make a charge. Paying in advance (the traditional way through providing pay and display machines) has its place in some locations but clearly in others can create a deterrent to visitors to towns to have to return to their vehicles sooner than they otherwise would. This is why we encourage local authorities to provide alternative methods of payments such as payment by phone (alongside traditional cash payments) and especially where pay by phone providers give motorists reminders that their ticket is due to expire and the ability to update and extend their paid for time period remotely.
One of the most effective ways of making it easier for motorists to park without the stress of having to worry about how long they are parking is to embrace new technology and the increasing use in the private sector of automatic number plate recognition which enables motorists to park without paying, to stay as long as they like but to make payment either on their return or online within, say, 24 hours. This is the same principle as applies to London’s congestion charging scheme and the governments’ Dart-charge on the Dartford crossing.
However, you will know that local authorities do not have the powers to use ANPR in this way as the transport minister wrote to all local authorities last year forbidding them from doing so. In your review of car parking policy can I please encourage you to reconsider this decision in the interests of motorists and consumers and most particularly in relation to hard pressed traders and shopkeepers who rely on trade from car-borne customers in many of the UK’s towns and cities.
As ever, I am very happy to discuss any of these issues further with you or assist your department in developing proposals.
Yours Sincerely,
Patrick Troy
Chief Executive