Chronicle & Echo opinion: Why we must fight plan to push up parking fees in Northampton town centre

No ifs, buts or maybes. It cannot go ahead.

Businesses in our town are facing one of the most challenging financial periods in their history. Coming out of a worldwide pandemic, the country is facing a cost of living crisis and the public has a fast decreasing disposal income to spend in our shops.

The council says it is facing the same challenges and they have to raise money somehow. There is no doubt that is true. They also say that the pressures being felt in Northampton are the same as those across the rest of the country.

That is partly true. Northampton is facing a perfect storm that is unique to our town centre and one that, if this proposal goes ahead, could be the point of no return for many businesses.

Look at what lies ahead in the next couple of years. Market Square will be undergoing a huge transformation project, starting in February. The work to improve Abington Street and Fish Street is due to begin in September. The former M&S and BHS sites will be demolished to make way for a mix of housing and retail. The former Debenhams store has already been knocked down and, at some point, work will begin on redeveloping that site. The Clock House, the huge office block in Connaught Street, is set to undergo a massive transformation project.

Individually, each of those projects is significant. Combined together, they are unprecedented.

These projects are all projects that are aiming to improve our town and we sincerely hope they will, but the impact of all that work going on in the town will be significant.

Add to that a proposed increase in car parking charges and it is a perfect storm.

Without putting too fine a point on it, with the scale of the work going on, much of the town centre will be a work site. You only have to look at some of the recent stories of shop and pub closures to see the challenges facing businesses right now, let alone in two or three years' time.

We will have to do everything we can to show that the town centre is open for business and do everything we can to encourage people to come into the town centre.

Increasing car parking charges is not the way. It is the exact opposite.

We understand the financial pressures on the council. We understand that they are having to make tough decisions on where to spend their money, no-one wants to make cuts or raise costs to the public. But the impact of this decision could prove fatal for the town centre

The town centre has clearly changed over the decades, it is not what it once was and there are many reasons behind this, some of which lay at the door of numerous local authority administrations of all political persuasions over the years, and some that don’t. But it remains the heart of our town. If the town centre is successful, it has a ripple effect through the rest of the town and creates a positive, feel-good factor.

The proposal is currently out to public consultation. It is not too late to make your voice heard but you must speak out. We also want to hear from you – email your views to [email protected] or direct to the editor [email protected], leave comments on Twitter and Facebook. We will guarantee that all of these comments will be presented to the council.

These plans cannot go ahead.