Wem parking fees 'hit' charity events

Charity events in a Shropshire market town have been dealt a hammer blow following the introduction of controversial new car parking charges, a meeting heard.

Residents in Wem have claimed fundraising events like coffee mornings have been less successful ever since Shropshire Council imposed new off-street charges of up to £1.80 a day at the start of the month.

At a meeting on Thursday, members of Wem Town Council called for the town to be "recompensed" for the impact of the charges.

Councillor Thelma Broom said it was "unfair" charges in Ellesmere have been suspended for a month to allow residents' parking schemes to be implemented, while in Whitchurch charges have been put on hold for three months until the new car park opens in Mill Street.

Mrs Broom said: "I think we should be asking for some kind of recompense. It seems a little unfair that Wem was picked out to have the charges first."

Resident Tom Edwards told councillors: "As you all know the car parks are virtually empty and charity events are down by £100 due to people not coming in as normal."

Shirehall bosses had originally told town councillors they would have to stump up £55,000 to stop parking charges being enforced, but the council could not afford the charge.

Councillor Chris Mellings said he was concerned the charges could cause headaches for residents as motorists hunt for free on-street spaces.

He said: "The charges are displacing people so we might be looking at residents' parking schemes before too long.

"While I and this council are not in favour of the charges, they are already with us so we need to encourage people to still shop in Wem.

"We tried to make representations that if the scheme was not ready to roll out in all the towns it should not have been rolled out anywhere.

"It's still too soon to see what impact it's having on the shops but we have heard about the charities' problems.

"At some point we might have to say to Shropshire Council they need to look at it again."

Councillors voted to write to Shirehall demanding to be "recompensed" and reminded residents that ticket machines in High Street car park issue a free one hour ticket.

Parking charges have also been introduced in Market Drayton.

By Tom Johannsen