Local authorities have been urged to reconsider their town centre parking policies ahead of local elections in May.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said local authorities are ‘killing’ town centres by using excessive parking charges to raise revenue.
In 2005, local authorities made £1.6bn from parking charges and fines, compared to just £628m eight years earlier.
The move has come less than two weeks after a group of retailers in Bath urged their local council to rethink their parking policy. John Dean, chief executive of British Shops and Stores, said councils’ hefty parking prices were causing independent retailers to close down ‘at an unprecedented rate’.
The FSB echoed the warning, saying short-term revenue raising through ‘draconian’ town centre parking laws would backfire in the long term as high street shops go out of business, losing wealth and employment.
The group said its ‘Small Business Manifesto’ for the local elections calls for sensible parking policies that encourage shoppers to use small independent shops on the high street.
The organisation added that MPs estimate 2,000 small retailers cease trading every year.
Roger Culcheth, the FSB’s local government chairman, said local authorities should come up with parking policies which encourage shoppers into town centres, rather than turning them away.
“Every town is different and you can’t impose exactly the same parking policies everywhere,” he cautioned.
“Spiralling town centre parking costs and huge fines must be done away with permanently.
“The local elections in England and Wales are a perfect opportunity for local authorities to show their commitment to the town centres they have so much influence over,” he said.
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2008
