Council makes change to Northampton town centre parking proposals before final decision is made next week

At a cabinet meeting on Monday evening (February 13), West Northamptonshire Council made an amendment to their town centre car parking proposals – before the final decision is made next Wednesday (February 22).

This comes after the council’s public consultation into their budget proposals received in excess of 3,000 responses, most of which were about car parking.

Currently in council-owned town centre car parks, all-day on Sunday is free, the first two hours on a Saturday are free, and on weekdays and beyond two hours on a Saturday, each hour costs £1.

The initial proposals, bundled up in the 121-page draft budget and medium financial plan, would have seen free weekend town centre parking scrapped completely and all parking, whether that be in the week or at the weekend, priced at £1.10 an hour – seeing an increase of 10 pence per hour.

However, at the cabinet meeting, an amendment was made to the proposal.

Though the proposal for weekday costs to be increased to £1.10 per hour remained the same, the first two hours on Saturdays and Sundays were amended to 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.

The council also proposes 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.

The final decision about whether this proposal will go ahead and be implemented from April will be made next Wednesday (February 22) at a full council meeting at the Guildhall from 5pm.

Here’s what the speakers at the cabinet meeting had to say about the changes made to the town centre car parking proposals…

Mark Mullen, operations manager at Northampton Town Centre Business Improvement District (BID):

“BID represents over 600 businesses within the catchment area of the town centre. We remain in direct opposition to the proposals, and we’re grateful to have had the opportunity to meet with representatives from the council to discuss our challenges – but I still feel the points we raised are still relevant.

“Our first opposition is around the consultation process itself, and the fact the car parking proposals were amongst the 121 pages of other proposals. How can we be in a position to retract elements of the proposal, as it didn’t sit within its own right? Surely it should have been a retraction of the whole proposal and a re-presentation, rather than the disjointed and fragmented approach we’ve got – with changes to some budget proposals and not others.

“The second objection is there are still three areas in the county where there are no proposed parking increases for – Brackley, Daventry and Towcester. We all appreciate there are overhead charges for car parking – whether that be the business rates or the upkeep and maintenance. At the very least, those are the areas who should be making a financial contribution towards the car parking provision within their proximity.

“The third point is a moral justification as to how the reduced cost of parking can be a reward and benefit for WNC officers. If £40 per month is deemed to be an acceptable price to park in the town centre, why isn’t that applicable for everyone else?

“If you make a comparison to when the last car parking increases were implemented in 2018 to the year before, there was a reduction of around 50,000 visitors a week to the town centre. I would predict the drop is going to be significantly greater due to the unprecedented levels of disruption we’re going to see in the town off the back of the works that are about to begin.

“If we were to apply that sort of deduction to where we’ve started in 2023, potentially we could see average visitor numbers fall to less than 200,000 people per week.

“To speak on behalf of the businesses I represent, this is categorically the wrong decision to make at this point in time with the level of disruption to come. We’ve already seen three major retailers vacate the Grosvenor Centre within the last two weeks – Select clothing, Menkind and New Look, which is due to close its doors for the final time this week.

“Are businesses going to survive the disruption, as well as car parking increases?”

Councillor Wendy Randall, leader of the Labour Group and councillor for Daventry West:

“I know a lot of people that come into Northampton to park, but they won’t bother when they have to pay. It is a huge concern and like Mark Mullen just said, there are businesses leaving town. If they leave, that means the business rates are gone as well – surely we should be doing things to encourage people to visit and spend their money here.

“We don’t want people to turn away and go to Milton Keynes where people say they have indoor shopping and parking is cheaper with more on offer. We want people to stay here, and introducing these parking charges is definitely not the way to go.”

Councillor Sally Beardsworth, leader of the Liberal Democrat group and councillor for Kingsthorpe South:

“Rather than helping businesses, this is going to detract from them. Consultation is so important and yet we seem to fall down on it and I don’t understand why. We have the BID and we can talk to people.

“I spoke to a lady on St Giles’ Street just last week and she said it’s really difficult as they haven’t got a loading bay so the stock arrives on pallets and they have to carry it a long way. She has a sister shop in Rushden Lakes and said a lot choose to go there because they can park for free.

“I was against Rushden Lakes as I knew what would happen. We have enough places in Northampton, like Riverside and Sixfields, where people don’t pay to park – yet we penalise town centre businesses.

“As others have said, Towcester, Brackley and Daventry don’t pay anything. If we’re going to harmonise and be fair across the board, surely we can reduce the car parking here and introduce small charges there. I know parking charges won’t be popular whatever you do, but at least people can see they are being treated fairly and rationally.”

Councillor Andrew Kilbride, Conservative councillor for Riverside Park:

“I welcome the two hours free parking at weekends and the £2.20 flat-rate, but what about Monday to Friday? Businesses operate then as well and are struggling as it is.

“Phil Larratt said the charges have not gone up since 2019 and I accept that, but the most part of West Northamptonshire are not paying those charges. Car parks in Towcester and Daventry are maintained and cleaned, so who’s paying for that? The Northampton people are through their parking charges, and that’s not fair.

“I accept that was part of a manifesto pledge but you said nothing’s off the table, so we need to look at that again and do a review. How are we going to attract investment in Northampton if car parking charges are high and footfall is low? I’m really concerned.”

These were West Northamptonshire Council’s responses to the comments of the speakers…

Councillor Malcolm Longley, Conservative cabinet member for finance and councillor for Braunston and Crick:

“What I would say – and not just about parking but any of these items where there have been increases – is nobody does this lightly and nobody wants to do it. We’ve got a situation where around £22 million additional is going into adult care next year and children are overspent by £7 million, and that’s just our bit.

“These are where the pressures are and that’s unlikely to get better – and we all know that. Therefore, we are faced with difficult decisions and we do the best we can to get it right.”

Councillor Phil Larratt, Conservative cabinet member for environment, transport, highways and waste and councillor for Nene Valley:

“I’m pleased you’re happy with the two hours free on weekends and I think we’ve gone as far as we can in the current financial situation. With regard to staff benefits, we are happy to work with businesses. We will sell spaces for season ticket holders, and will look and work on where the spaces are – and how we can best utilise those.

“Businesses are free to buy them from us at whatever the going rate is and sell them onto employees as a benefit.”

Councillor Jonathan Nunn, leader of West Northamptonshire Council:

“We’re really grateful to those people who took the time to respond to the budget consultation.

“We know our proposals for parking charges have also raised concerns from residents and businesses – we have listened to these and worked hard to explore options and propose changes we think strike a fair balance towards addressing these within the tough financial constraints we have.

“With weekends tending to be our busiest time, plans for two hours free parking and a flat all-day charge in Northampton not only aims to encourage more people to the town but also for them to stay longer, explore more and hopefully spend more with our businesses. We are committed to working with businesses, collectively or individually, and the BID on looking at future options around parking incentive schemes.”