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| Preston Park |
We the undersigned petition the council to allow free parking to park users for a maximum of 2-3 hours. After this time slot parking could cost per hour or per day. This would ensure enough time for the majority of park users to enjoy the park free of charge, whilst discouraging non-users from parking inside the park.
The petition runs from 18/07/2012 to 11/10/2012 and will be presented to the full Council meeting of 25th October 2012. The Council are due to review the parking situation in Preston Park in December 2012.
Brighton Bits comment:-
See "Preston Park parking" for a summary of the charges in force in the Park at present. From 50p an hour to £3 for 6 hours they surely cannot be a huge disincentive for anyone able to run a car. The main aggravation is the scrabble for change and the hike to the meter. The latter would not be avoided even if parking was free, as there remains the need to issue a timed ticket to prevent misuse of the parking spaces.
It is definitely a "huge disincentive". There are a number of reasons why these parking charges put people off visiting the park; 1. The cost of the charges (as you say the charges aren't massive, but human nature dictates that someone will try and go somewhere with free parking rather than pay to park). 2. As you say, the scrabble to try and find change for the machines (there never seems to be change in our house). 3. The hike to the meter - very inconvenient if you have a baby/toddler with you (I disagree that you'd have to go to the meter anyway - the 2 to 3 hour time limit would be monitored by traffic wardens as it is in other parts of the City). 4. The fact that when you visit a park you often don't know how long you're going to spend there, and therefore don't know how much money to put in the meter - a supposedly fun trip to the park shouldn't be all about clock watching and hurrying your kids along.
ReplyDeleteIndividually these reasons might not seem that significant, but cumulatively they mean that people aren't visiting the park when they previously used to. I've noticed the dramatic reduction in park users the couple of times I've visited the playground in Preston Park since the parking charges were introduced. Both times there were less than half a dozen children in the playground on a sunny afternoon whereas before the charges there had been around 30. The people who used to visit the park are either now sitting at home or driving further afield to somewhere like Hove Park (not very 'Green'!). Neither of these are very satisfactory.
And let's not forget that in the consultation for this nasty and completely unnecessary scheme it was rejected by 98% of people who responded. Not very democratic is it!!!!!!!
I would wholeheartedly agree Andrew that, if the meters do prove a disincentive to use of the park, the Council should think again. I hope they are doing some careful monitoring.
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