On-street parking charges in Ellesmere ‘disastrous’

Councillor Ann Hartley, chairman of Ellesmere’s the town’s chamber of trade, has been highly critical of Shropshire Council’s proposals to change parking charges in the town.

She said Ellesmere Chamber of Trade was going to discuss the proposed changes at a meeting this month.

Under the proposed changes by Shropshire Council, parking on-street in Ellesmere would go from free to £1 an hour.

Councillor Hartley said: “I am convinced the chamber will have the same view as me and be very much against the on-street parking changes.

“It will send out completely the wrong message.

“At one end of the town Tesco has free parking for two hours, if on-street parking becomes chargeable people will park in Tesco and not go back into town and visit our amazing independent shops.

“Anything that will impact negatively on our businesses is very short-signed and negative.

“At the moment on-street parking is free so to change that would be totally and utterly disastrous.

“We will oppose that all the way.

“Ellesmere is currently bucking the trend and has a thriving high street. It also has an amazingly active chamber of trade with 110 members.

“We have also had some amazing events and summer festivals.

“We want to encourage visitors and keep Ellesmere thriving and vibrant. These changes would be terrible for the town.”

Shropshire Council has said that any extra money generated from these new proposals would be reinvested in improvements to car parks and to the parking service.

Under the consultation it is proposed that set-price per hour parking be introduced along with pricing bands. Changes could be made to unrestricted parking, evening parking, loading bays and ‘pop and shop’ parking.

There could also be changes to Shropshire’s Council’s on-street residents’ parking permit scheme and to the car parking waiver system.

Steve Davenport, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “We’re proposing a number of changes to our parking strategy, including what and how we charge for on-street and off-street parking.

“We think these proposals which will make parking arrangements – both in car parks on on-street – simpler, clearer and more consistent, but these are proposals at this stage and we want to know what people think. These proposals are out to consultation until October 17. “

All responses to the consultation will be carefully considered before the final proposals are presented to Shropshire Council’s Cabinet in autumn 2017.”