Future parking in Attleborough
Breckland District Council is proposing to start charging for all the car parks that it owns in the market towns in about twelve months time. The proposals were prepared for them by outside consultants and were approved by the council in July and will soon go out for public comment. The editor of this blog has been reading through the consultants’ report and even watched the proceedings of the Breckland Council’s meeting when these proposals were passed by members.
The following is his attempt to summarise what he thinks it all means.
The towns involved are Dereham, Swaffham, Thetford, Watton and Attleborough. Breckland Council reckons that it owns thirty car parks and that three of them are in Atteborough. It also says that running all these car parks costs it around £450,000 to maintain them. The proposal is that in future each market town will have one car park offering the first hour's parking for free, with tariffs between 50p and £1 for the first chargeable hour across the district.
For Attleborough the suggested prices are a charging period 8am and 6pm Monday to Saturday with Sunday parking charged at a fixed rate (suitable to each town). No evening charges (after 6pm). Cost for Attleborough would be one hour 60p, two hours £1, three hours £1.40, four hours £1.80 and all day £3. For all day on Sunday and Bank Holidays there would be a fixed rate of £1. These charges would apply to all Blue Badge holders and also to those charging their electric cars in the car park. The paying method suggested would be contactless at new on-site solar-powered terminals. Local retail outlets with Pay Point systems can also accept cash payments for parking services for those who rely on cash to pay for goods and services. At present Attleborough has a very popular car park in Queen’s Road where people can stay for up to three hours (and no longer) without payment. Exceed three hours and you are fined. This allows time to go round the shops or visit one of the cafes. An hour of free parking is hardly enough to enjoy a good cup of coffee.
At the moment we don’t know various other factors. How much were the consultants paid to produce their report? How expensive will it be to fit the new solar-powered payment machines to the car park? What does Attleborough Town Council think about their present scheme being abandoned? How happy are the local shops with the idea? Will it always be possible to find a parking space in Queens Square or will lots of people pay their £3 and then get a bus off to Norwich or Thetford? Only time will tell.
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