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22
May
Business groups concerned about plans for pay and display at Harrogate car parks
Business groups have raised concern over a council plan to remove barriers at two multi-storey car parks in Harrogate.
In April, North Yorkshire Council’s executive agreed to invest almost £2.5 million in the county’s car parks.
The move includes removing the barrier-controlled automatic number plate recognition systems at Jubilee and Victoria car parks in Harrogate and introducing pay and display systems instead.
Cllr Keane Duncan, executive councillor for highways and transport at the council, said the investment would “deliver much-needed improvements”.
However, business groups Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce and Harrogate Business Improvement District are not convinced.
Martin Mann, chief executive of HDCC
Martin Mann, chief executive of the chamber of commerce, said the move would have an impact on traders in the town.
He said:
I believe this will have a huge impact on retailers and hospitality alike within the town centre.
The previous 'Pay on Exit' allowed both residents and visitors alike to stay and browse, but now they have to pre-select their shopping duration.
This will significantly reduce their dwell time in town and prevent people, especially visitors, from changing their plans as they explore the town.
This is a huge step backwards and whilst there appears to be a cost saving to the council, there will be a reduction in footfall and revenue in the Harrogate Town Centre.
Meanwhile, Matthew Chapman, chief executive of Harrogate BID, said he was concerned over the reasons behind the decision.
He said:
The biggest concern we have is every BID in North Yorkshire has not been consulted on this and the chamber has not been consulted on this.
It’s the fact that a quite unique decision has been made that could affect the first experience someone has in our town and the fact that it does not feel like this has been talked through.
It just feels like quite a unique decision to make and we don’t really understand the reasons behind it.
The council plans to replace all 429 parking machines across North Yorkshire with new solar-powered ticketless devices which can accept card, cash and app payments.
Council bosses say the move will deliver almost £590,000 a year in efficiency savings once the new machines are installed.
Cllr Keane Duncan.
Cllr Duncan said previously that some of the systems in place were nearly 20 years old.
He said:
It’s fair to say that right now some of our car parks do appear unwelcoming, they’re in a poor state of repair and most critically the technology is outdated.
Most of the machines are approaching the end of their working life. Ninety per cent of them are more than a decade old and some are now 20 years old.
They’re prone to glitches and we know that can be a very frustrating experience for users.
We also know that visitors are often very surprised to find that some of our car parks only accept cash payments.
Meanwhile, the council has recently increased car parking charges for the second year in a row.
The 10% increase in on and off-street parking tariffs could bring in almost £2 million in extra income a year, council officers say.
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