High streets get a boost from fairer parking in Wokingham

John Redwood, MP for Wokingham, has welcomed new measures to provide more car parking spaces in town centres. Anti-car red tape imposed by Labour is being scrapped, tackling the parking misery faced by shoppers.

Centrally-imposed limits on town centre parking spaces will be removed, helping to provide a big boost to struggling high streets and small shops, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles announced this week. National parking restrictions set by Whitehall have until now dictated the number of parking spaces a council is permitted to grant, often with a cap that limits the spaces town centres can offer even when they want to offer more.

John Redwood said:

ā€˜The return of fairer parking is great news for Wokingham, its shoppers and businesses.

ā€˜We are calling off Labourā€™s war on the motorist. We want to see more parking spaces to help small shops prosper on local high streets and assist mums struggling with their family shop.

ā€˜Labourā€™s planning rules hiked up parking charges; they raised business rates by stealth and their licensing laws made towns less safe at night, driving people away.

ā€˜In addition to ripping up the red tape on parking, this Government has scrapped Whitehall rules on town centres, doubled small business rate relief for two years and is giving councils more powers to tackle late-night antisocial behaviourā€™.

6 Comments

  1. Peter Roberts
    August 3, 2011

    At last some good news for hard pressed business in town centres and also the beleaguered driver.

    It is time to recognise the car as a positive and desirable asset to society which provides transport freedom and economic growth. Labour’s policies of restricting car use and treating the motorist as a pariah has caused untold economic damage and is totally unjustified.

    Well done.

  2. pipesmoker
    August 3, 2011

    I live in Burton upon Trent but shop and do everything else in Swadlincote, Derbyshire where there is free parking and businesses appear to thrive.

    I do a lot of my shopping online, the local council loses out on that too. I absolutely refuse to pay for parking and if I take someone into town I drive round until they have done their shopping and pick them up rather than pay.

    Anti social behaviour, I hate the term, it was a NuLabour con to remove criminal acts from the crime figures?

  3. Frank Salmon
    August 3, 2011

    At last some sense. Motorists contribute to the economy, unlike rail, which soaps up tax payer money. So if the conservatives are serious, they should rip up the plans for HS2, build some decent motorways, and look at Norman Fosters’ brilliant plans for an airport in the Thames Estuary.

  4. Matt
    August 3, 2011

    If there ever was a war on the motorist then previous governments lost it badly, cost of car use has decreased in real terms and this has brought about a significant increase in car ownership and mileage over the last 2 decades. People will nearly always go for the cheapest option – cheapest in this case as it is so heavily subsidised. What a shame that no government of any political persuasion has the gumption to either have a roads policy or the smarts to realise that the desire to use the car means a greater need to invest in more roads.

  5. BobE
    August 3, 2011

    Turn all railway tracks to motorways. Use coaches for mass travel.
    Look at the M40 coaches for inspiration.
    The day of the train is for first class only, MPs only.

  6. uanime5
    August 7, 2011

    Hopefully this will lead to the cost parking in towns going down, rather than an increase in the number of over-priced car parks.

Comments are closed.