How businesses, the public and Chronicle & Echo teamed up in a campaign against parking increases

As this newspaper’s coverage on the increase in town centre car parking proposals draws to a close, let us look back on the campaign which hoped to stop it going ahead – with help from businesses, the public and groups across Northampton.

The final budget 2023-24 was passed at a full council meeting on Wednesday evening (February 22) by 51 votes to 16, with one who voted to abstain.

This means from April, weekday parking costs will increase to £1.10 per hour, the first two hours on Saturdays and Sundays will be free, and there will be a flat-rate of £2.20 for anyone staying longer than two hours on weekends in council-owned town centre car parks.

This sees the current free parking all day on Sundays scrapped and all hourly rates increased by 10 pence, the equivalent of 10 percent per hour, from £1 to £1.10.

The current two hours free parking on Saturday remains, but this is only following an amendment to the proposal at a cabinet meeting on February 13 – which would have seen it scrapped otherwise.

Visitors will be able to pay to park per half an hour, instead of hourly blocks, for up to a total stay of five hours.

This all began when the budget proposals were first revealed in a 121-page draft budget and medium financial plan in December 2022 – which estimated the town centre car parking plans could raise an extra £1 million in revenue.

West Northamptonshire Council then held a public consultation into all the budget proposals, which ran until January 31.

Kickstarting the campaign was a comment piece from the Chronicle & Echo’s editor David Summers on January 18 – who expressed our opposition and said: “No ifs, but or maybes. It cannot go ahead.”

Though David explained his understanding of the financial pressures West Northamptonshire Council faced to achieve a balanced budget, he said now was not the time to implement increases with the hardship businesses are facing coming out of the pandemic and with the cost of living crisis – as well as the amount of works planned to go ahead in the town centre over the next few years.

“Add to that a proposed increase in car parking charges and it is the perfect storm,” said David.

The next day (January 19), a petition was launched by Wesley Suter, director at Steffans Jewellers, to show the council they should not go ahead with the initial proposals.

This petition amassed a total of more than 1,300 signatures, which were taken into consideration as part of the council’s public consultation and contributed to the amendments made at the cabinet meeting on February 13.

From then on, we heard from those who believed passing the increases would be a mistake – including Mark Mullen, operations manager at Northampton Town Centre BID, Liz Cox, owner of The Eccentric Englishman, and Julie Teckman, owner of Vintage Guru and Emporium.

“It’s unbelievably disrespectful to the businesses who have invested so much in improving the town centre,” said Julie, who presented the petition at the full council budget meeting ahead of the final vote being cast.

A number of town centre cafes also backed the campaign and demanded “desperate action”, including The Sandwich Bar in Gold Street and Matchbox Cafe in Abington Street.

Frances Burton, owner of The Sandwich Bar, told the Chronicle & Echo: “This town centre is down on football as it is – to start charging more is beggars belief.

“People already comment about the lack of what is available in the town and their shock at the parking charges as they stand.”

Bing Wan, owner of Matchbox Cafe, was in complete agreement with Frances and labelled the whole plan as “disgraceful”.

“It will be criminal if the plans go ahead,” he said.

Andrew Lewer, Conservative MP for Northampton South, and Councillor Harry Barrett, shadow cabinet member for education and Labour representative in Kingsthorpe South, also spoke out against the proposals.

“This is a poorly thought out decision, which will have the biggest impact on the poorest in society,” said Cllr Barrett. “Everyone is paying more but receiving less and this will have a direct knock-on effect to those who already can’t afford to live.”

Next came Reverend Oliver Coss, rector at All Saints’ Church, who made clear the detrimental impacts increasing parking charges would have on religious groups and communities – particularly the scrapping of free parking on their day of worship.

He said: “Charging to park is like adding church tax, especially when public transport is practically non-existent on Sundays.”

As the campaign drew to a close in line with the end of the public consultation, this newspaper heard from both new and more established businesses – from the new florist KS Flowers in The Ridings Arcade, to Saint Gyles Jewellers that has stood in St Giles’ Street for the past four decades.

Despite the 14 stories published as part of this campaign, more than 1,300 signatures gained in opposition, and the majority of the 3,000 responses to the public consultation being negative comments about the car parking plans, West Northamptonshire Council went ahead with the proposals.

Though it may only be a relatively small part of the budget, this is the livelihood of those who operate in the town centre day in, day out that is going to change – as said by Julie in her address to the full council meeting.

The decision may have come as a disappointment, but the affected groups are all trying to take positives from the outcome and move forward, while showing everyone what the town centre has to offer.

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