8th September 2010

BRIDPORT: Free inland parking

by Paul Crompton

MOTORISTS will no longer face evening and Sunday parking charges in Bridport after the district council rubber-stamped an initiative to help the town’s businesses.

The move is part of West Dorset District Council’s two-year trial to encourage trade by dropping charges on Sundays and between 7pm and 8am - except in car parks along the coastal strip from West Bexington to Lyme Regis, including West Bay.
WDDC’s Executive Committee succumbed to pressure from business groups to remove evening and Sunday parking charges in the area’s market towns starting from November 1st.
The initiative was achieved following a two-year campaign by Dorchester Business Improve-
ment District (BID) and Dorchester Chamber of Commerce.
Dorchester BID’s Phil Gordon said when they first held a BID ballot a lot of businesses had parking related concerns.
“I had a lot of concerned businesses coming to my attention who were struggling with evening trade because people were unhappy to pay for parking in evenings,” said Mr Gordon.
“This initiative will encourage more people to use the facilities such as pubs, restaurants, cafes and hopefully, conversely, encourage businesses to possibly extend their hours into the evening. Some shops may decide to stay open maybe until 8pm to get the evening trade enjoying the free parking.
“The trade on Sunday needs encouraging and more and more shops open on Sundays now, but obviously it’s a big incentive to come to Dorchester if they don’t have to pay to park there and again it’s up to the businesses to make the best of the situation.
“There’s been quite a lot of effort for quite some time and we are really, really delighted that the council are going to implement this, it was certainly a job made easier by the fact we had full support of the chamber of commerce.”
The move will hit WDDC’s coffers by £58,700 in the next year at a time when central government funding to councils is being cut. The overall budgeted income from car park fees for 2010/11 is £2,316,000.
The council introduced charges for overnight parking (7pm - 8am) in 2005 following a member scrutiny of parking charges.
Charges were: 30p in Yarn Barton, Beaminster, 40p in Bridport and 50p in Dorchester. Sunday charging had been in place for many years and charges are 20p for up to two hours and 30-50p all day.
However, President of Bridport Chamber of Trade, Mike Harvey said they were not consulted over the initiative and questioned the reason why it did not include places like West Bay.
“As usual we are the last to know about the discussions, despite being a local Chamber of Trade. Why are we never consulted?” he said.
“We do not consider that the district council has thought through the problem correctly.
“The suspension of the overnight charges should apply to all car parks. Why should someone visiting a pub or restaurant be charged for leaving their car overnight in West Bay and not in Bridport town centre.
“We agree with the suspension of Sunday charges for the inland parks only.”
WDDC councillors have also approved a new system of parking permits to be introduced in the car parks for hotel and guesthouse visitors. This new system would mean hotels and guest houses can buy scratch card style parking permits and issue them to their guests, allowing them to park until 9am.
WDDC Leader Robert Gould said: “We are pleased to approve plans to remove parking charges in most of our car parks during evenings and Sundays, to help support the local economy and bring visitors and shoppers from outside the district into West Dorset, as well as helping local residents.”

BRIDPORT: Free inland parking

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