Do you remember when parking was free for the first half-hour in the centre of Eastleigh? Now we have to pay 60p just to pop into a shop for something and there are parking wardens waiting to swoop on us and give us a ticket even if we're a minute or two late back.
When I was shopping the other day the shopkeeper said this is what her customers are always on about. The Eastleigh Partnershop would like all parking after 3pm to be free, because this is the time schools come out and it would encourage mothers to come into town with their children. It would boost the trade of the 47 eateries as well as the possibility of reversing the trend of shop closures. At the last count there were 33 empty retail premises.
However, this would be very expensive, as although parking revenue isn't supposed to be seen as an income stream, but should be ploughed back intothe local economy, the council relies on it. I understand that next year the business rate income will be repatriated to local councils, so it will be easier for a parking strategy to be planned, along with a reassessment of the rate itself to encourage shops to open.
In the meantime, I am pushing for the first 30 minutes to be free once again, as this would encourage more short term parking and stimulate the economy. However, I realise that I'm very much a lone voice unless I can get your support.
The only way you are going to get more people into Eastleigh Town to use the local shops and boost the local economy is for the local council to support these shops and shop keepers and stop using shoppers as just a revenue stream. The local area committee, ELAC, which is made up solely of Lib Dems Councillors, has the power to change or remove the parking restrictions in the town center, yet they seem determined to do all they can to kill our community shopping hub and make Eastleigh Town Shopping as difficult as possible. This is OUR town and OUR community, not a Lib Dem feeding trough.
ReplyDeleteHow right you are, Matthew. Would you be prepared to help us do something about this? The LibDems have sewn up Eastleigh for far too long and we need to launch a serious campaign to get rid of them. Apart from joining our campaign team - we are starting a new branch, the Northern Parishes, we need to make sure that this blog is read very much more widely. We also have to stop the building on Eastleigh Rec and Stoneham Park as well as preventing the crazy council from moving the civic offices back into the town centre. All these would be disastrous for Eastleigh.
ReplyDelete