General Discussion

Been told that at yesterday's (24th) budget debate at Teignbridge District Council, the Conservatives (including, I am told, some Dawlish Conservative Councillors) voted down the following amendment submitted by the Lib Dems.

“That to assist the traders of Dawlish, a sum of £16,600 is allocated to allow free parking in the Strand car park between 8am and 1pm Monday to Saturday from March 1 to September 30 this year as a trial and to review the benefits to trade.

“To ensure trade is supported by a throughput of vehicles and vehicles do not stay over the maximum permitted time, motorists will need to continue displaying a parking ticket from the machine.

“Funding for this proposal, which will give immediate support to the traders of Dawlish, can be drawn from the rental income received via Bradley Lane which this budget earmarks for future investment”.

Will be interesting to hear the Conservative's reason for voting this down - after all there are always at least two sides to every story.

Free parking would mean the car park would be filled up by local residents and traders during that time so ensuring no space for visitors. It isn't the cost of parking that stops people visiting an area it's the lack of parking. I know several traders who park in Coryton Close and other streets who would find it much more convenient to park in the Strand Car park and move their car later in the day.

I don't see the harm in having a trial as this appears to be what was proposed. This wasn't just launching into free parking it was a trial to see if it would benefit trade - why wouldn't you want to do that?

If the amount of time that each motorist could park for free between 8am -1.00pm was limited to, say, 30 mins in every 2 hours or some such similar restriction then local residents and traders wouldn't be able to park there all the morning would they?

Might such a time restriction encourage turnover of those needing to drive and park cars in order to do some quick shopping in the town centre?

It could have been tried out rather than dismissed out of hand as seems to have been the case.

I wonder if the Conservative councillors at Devon County Council have the same attitude as their Teignbridge District colleagues towards trialling a limited amount of free parking in Dawlish town centre?

Isn't Devon County Council in charge of on street parking?

Should Dawlish County Councillor John Clatworthy be lobbied about Dawlish having a free parking period of 30 minutes along the Strand do you think?

I know I've heard some of the traders who have shops along there say that they would welcome free parking of around 30minutes or so.

Just a thought.

I agree. Short-time limited strret parking, together with paid parking, seems to work well in Teignmouth. No reason, apart from lack of political will, that it shouldn't work similarly in Dawlish.

I emailed Cllr Clatworthy with the exact suggestion of short-term free parking back in October 2011 and this was the response:

Many thanks for your email for taking the trouble to contact me ,i am forwarding to St...uart Hughes who has the remit for the issue you raise and I have arranged to see him as I have had similar requests from the Traders and other ward members and it is something I will be supporting as it is vital no one is disadvantaged with the opening of Sainbury's.It is important that there is a level playing field and twith he supermarket offering free car parking there is a disincentive to visit The Strand. Regards johnclatworthy"

Perhaps we should all e-mail him again then reminding him of his response to Rach's e-mail and further pointing out that given that his Conservative colleagues on TDC voted down such a scheme for the Strand car park perhaps he and his Conservative councillor colleagues at Devon County Council might look favourably on such a scheme for onroad parking along the Strand.

Lynne the problem is how would a limited waiting system for parking be managed. The problem with limited waiting is its labor intensive back in the days before meters all on street parking was limited wait and the police had five full time and two part time wardens managing Dawlish and Teighnmouth.

If you take a 1hr limited wait all car registrations have to be noted 30 minutes later they all have to be checked again those who have moved are crossed of, the final walk through will be 1hr 5 mins after the initial start of the exercise any cars left on the list are booked and then it all starts again. In the meantime there are all the other limited waits to manage plus the car parks double yellows etc . The reason meters came into force was because the police could not manage the system as limited wait, meters apart from raising revenue also cut man hours. If we went back to limited wait the strand would be full of cars all day not moving until the warden did his first walk through and that may happen only once or twice a week especially in the summer when he or she will have overflowing car parks to manage.

At present all the warden has to do is walk up the Strand and look at tickets if limited wait is what people want there will have to be more Enforcement Officers, will that be cost effective or just another millstone for the Tax payers to fund and of course if anything on street is changed the road order has to be changed thats a further expense.

But all that apart town centres are in decline we as consumers have changed our shopping habits we now like one stop shopping myself included not to long ago i spent £60 a week in the Strand but now i only drive through on my way to Sainsburys. This change has nothing to do with paying for parking its convenience i don't have to go from shop to shop lugging bags to the car i get everything in one go at Sainsburys trolley it back to the car unload and drive away simple saves me time and money and all those now using Sainsburys do it for the same reason convenience

“That to assist the traders of Dawlish, a sum of £16,600 is allocated to allow free parking in the Strand car park between 8am and 1pm Monday to Saturday from March 1 to September 30 this year as a trial and to review the benefits to trade."

It's a shame they voted not to allocate the money, but not entirely surprising, since I came to live in Dawlish it's been very obvious that Teignbridge Council hates to allocate money to Dawlish - it all seems to go to Teignmouth and Newton Abbot. I feel like a poor relative every time I visit Teignmouth!

The County Council operates the parking on the Strand. If they allowed for 30 minutes free parking, on both the Strand and Brunswick, then pay after that it would help, and I don't think it would loose much, if any, revenue, as so many people (me included) don't pay now if they are just popping into one shop and there's no warden in sight.

I'm sure that Dawlish Traders will continue to lobby for a period of free parking.

Well Leatash, all that you write above may well be reason(s) why a free period of limited parking whether in car parks or on the road may not happen. All I know is that I have heard traders in The Strand ask for it to be considered. Whether it is feasible, cost effective etc. I don't know. I look forward to hearing the pro and con arguments.

Don't other towns have limited time free parking schemes? How do they work?

I contacted Cllr Clatworthy this morning about limited free time onroad parking. He got back to me saying that it will be brought to the attention of those concerned at Devon County Council with the revamping of the Strand work on which is due to start in September of this year.

All I'm doing is playing with ideas as to how to get more people into the town centre.

I do not understand why people keep on and on about free parking, there is always a shortage of parking spaces in the Strand and Brunswick Place, how will making it free create any more spaces??????? . If the parking was not used because people wouldn't pay for it then I might see some point, but there is none. Can someone explain what 30 minutes free parking is supposed to acheive when there are not enough parking spaces available in the first place. And as Dawlishblue says, most people don't pay for a quick visit to one shop anyway, so giving £16000 away to people who are happy to pay it.........................pretty pointless methinks.

Many parking meters (eg. outside Exeter Railway station) can do a free 1/2 hour , or whatever, ticket. Though free on street would be preferable leaving carparks for longer stay. Trouble is that is County Council rarther than TDC and they care even less.

Most people resent paying to shop, so offering some incentive to shop local seems to make sense to me. That is the reason. (!!!!!!!!!!)

BUT, despite all this talk about paid parking deterring people there is always a shortage of parking spaces in the Strand, so I still don't understand why 30 minutes free parking is going to change that, it's not the COST of parking that stops people going there it's the LACK of parking and a REASON to go there.

Metered parking in Newton Abbott, Paignton, Torquay etc etc is always full, if there is a reason for people to visit a place they will pay to park. The idea that Dawlish will have an increase of shoppers because they pay 40p less to park is nonsense.

It depends what time you want to shop. There are times when there are plenty of spaces on the Strand.

Local food shops need to have free parking close by - if you have to get in your car to get to a shop and the local Supermarket has free parking but the local High Street doesn't, then that gives the Supermarket an unfair advantage.