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The cost of parking is frozen to help retailers
Charges have increased at Prestons off-street car parks
County Hall has frozen on-street car parking prices in Preston – and says it urged district councils to do the same.
Bosses at Lancashire County Council (LCC) said they decided not to increase its pay-and-display fees for Preston and Lancaster city centres this year over concern for the impact on retailers.
The move comes a few weeks after Preston Council agreed to hike up prices in its off-street car parks.
County Coun Tim Ashton, cabinet member for highways and transport at LCC, said he feared a rise in charges would deter people from visiting city centres, when shops were already struggling.
He said: “We have kept our parking charges the same because of financial pressures on retailers in Preston and Lancaster. We understand what it is like for businesses and if we can afford to keep charges the same, then we will.
“I asked the city councils to reconsider their decisions to put up off-street parking.
“In these difficult times, we need to help our retailers. The last thing we want is for people to go out of town because they don’t have to pay there.”
Preston Council came under fire for announcing plans to put up charges at its off-street city centre car parks in January. One hour now costs £1.30, making it more expensive than the equivalent on-street one-hour tariff.
Council leader Peter Rankin said the situation for LCC was different, because County Hall only manages a small amount of on-street parking in Preston.
He said: “The on-street parking is very little in Preston so (LCC) would not be getting a great deal by putting it up.”
Coun Rankin added they had been working with Preston Business Improvement District (BID) and district councils on parking strategy.
Lancaster Council is also considering increases to its off-street car parking charges, from £1.20 to £1.30 for an hour. The idea will be discussed at its budget meeting next Tuesday.
Coun Eileen Blamire, council leader, said: “These are difficult times and the condition of the economy has left us all with extremely tough choices in managing our budgets.
“It’s a tricky balance for us because we want to continue to offer good services that benefit people and the economy, while keeping the charges which help to fund these services at a level which are fair.
“If we didn’t raise charges in some areas then the knock on effect is we wouldn’t be able to provide services at the same level as we currently do.”
Highways bosses at LCC had recommended on-street charges be frozen, but noted it could add to congestion if more cars circled the streets looking for spaces rather than going straight to an off-street car park.
The tariffs will be reviewed again in December.
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Weather for Preston
Wednesday 23 May 2012
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Temperature: 11 C to 15 C
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Wind direction: North west
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Comments
There are 3 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
rollingmac
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 03:45 PMHow short sighted of Preston "City" Council , visitor's down, trade figures down' we need extra cash? put up parking charges to deter even more visitors. Oh dear!!! yet another store has closed down and gone out of town. Never mind we will turn the town, sorry, "City" centre over to the university, and the students for a play ground, after all it is them that keep the pubs going and we get a good income from them. What about a congestion charge? that should get rid of more visitors.
retired white van man
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 07:49 PMas the wife has a blue badge and we go round together all the time we do not pay for parking at most car parks, nice init so put your prices up and kill off the town centre. that will not bother us either as we do our shopping at tesco leyland,free parking and points as well.
caretaker
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 03:04 PMTom Ashton a freeze is not good enough!, Preston city centre business is ALREADY suffering, bring the rates down you clown!.
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