Portishead and Clevedon new parking charges concerns raised

North Somerset Council’s executive voted on October 16 to roll out parking charges to eight free car parks and some on-street locations in Clevedon, Nailsea, and Portishead. The charges will be rolled out in stages, with the first introduced in February.

In most car parks affected, it will cost £1 to park for an hour, £1.50 to park for two hours, £2.50 for three hours, and £3.50 for all day. But parking at some locations —  including Portishead’s lake grounds — will cost more.

A contingent of people involved in volunteering, independent businesses, and town councils in Clevedon and Portishead spoke at the council executive meeting to urge the council to drop the plans. David Gunnell of Portishead Town Council said the lake grounds was “a local park used predominantly by local people” and called the plan to charge there “unfair.”

He said: “Is North Somerset planning to charge everyone in the district to use their local park for fresh air and exercise?”

There is no bus service to the lake grounds, so many people have to drive. Andrea Goude, a trustee of Portishead Pool Community Trust, warned that the charges could reduce the number of swimmers coming to the town’s charity-run open air pool, and put a financial burden on the more than 60 volunteers who keep it running.

She said: “If they don’t come and help us and we get lower swimmer numbers, effectively you are going to push the pool to the edge of working and covering its costs. ”

Justine Flowers, who lives near the lake grounds, added that the charges would cause nuisance parking on residential streets. She said: “There is no parking problem at the lake grounds and imposing parking charges and the supporting infrastructure will create the very chaos it is supposed to prevent, destroying Portishead’s jewel in the crown.”

Mr Gunnell also raised concerns about the plans for parking charges in Portishead Town Centre. He said: “Our high street is at a tipping point. We are steadily losing shops and businesses.”

He warned: “Parking charges at Roath Road car park will accelerate the loss of business, both through their impact on customers, as well as on staff and volunteers who work in charity shops.”

Meanwhile in Clevedon, David Sims of Hill Road’s independent bookshop Books on the Hill, warned: “The nomination of Hill Road as the only shopping area in Clevedon to have on-street parking charges will have a very negative impact on sustainability and vibrancy of the Hill Road area.”

He said that shops on the “thriving” street would lose customers to shopping areas that retained free parking, putting independent shops in trouble. He said: “Less shops and importantly the demise of independent speciality shops could change the character of Hill Road forever.”

Nailsea Yeo’s local councillor Mike Bird (Independent) pointed out to the executive that there were other free car parks in Nailsea which people would simply use instead of North Somerset Council’s. He said: “There will be no income of any sort from short term parking on council-owned car parks in Nailsea.”

Despite the warnings from local communities, the council executive voted 7-1 to implement the charges. Roger Whitfield (Portishead East, Portishead Independents) broke with the rest of the partnership administration to vote against the plans.

Council leader Mike Bell said: “We have tried to listen to feedback and make changes where we can. The proposed on-street locations at Portishead High Street, Clevedon Triangle, and Nailsea High Street have been removed from the scope of the proposals. We have reduced the proposed charges in some locations.”

He added that the council would be willing to work with town councils interested in taking on the running of the car parks. Charges would not apply to emergency services, including people who are volunteering for the RNLI. RNLI volunteers are already exempt from parking charges on Weston-super-Mare seafront where parking charges are already in place.

The charges come as the council has warned it needs to find millions to avoid issuing a section 114 notice, effectively declaring bankruptcy. Mr Bell said: “We cannot afford to provide free parking in the way we did in the past. We cannot justify subsidising parking when we are having to cut care services for vulnerable adults and children.”

North Somerset MP Sadik Al-Hassan told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “While I recognise the difficult financial position North Somerset Council are in after years of Tory imposed austerity, this small measure may be incapable of solving all their financial woes and inevitably will end up falling unevenly on hardworking residents.

“I am meeting with Jim McMahon, the Minister in charge of Local Government finance, with Dan Aldridge next Monday ahead of the budget to discuss North Somerset’s financial settlement and press the case for further funding.”

In a statement councillor Caritas Charles (Portishead East, Independent) said: “The entire process around car parking charges has had flaws from the start. First, it is said nothing is decided. Then residents receive a consultation paper that asks how you would like the introduction of charges to be managed.

“This is an incredibly emotive issue that covers everything including the long term viability of local business, community cohesion and wellbeing. We are living in challenging economic times, that’s a given. But rather than dictating how we tackle this North Somerset needs to be working with the public to inform and develop solutions.”

North Somerset Council owns 44 car parks across the district and currently charges in 17. The plans would see charges introduced in eight more, as well as some on street locations, priced differently depending on the type of location they are in. The planned charges are:

Car parks near retail areas

These car parks are: Portishead’s Roath Road car park; Clevedon’s Marson Road, Great Western Road East, and Great Western Road West car parks; and Nailsea’s Station Road and Clevedon Road car parks.

The cost of parking will be:

1 hour £1.00

2 hours £1.50

3 hours £2.50

All-day £3.50

On-street retail areas

This is the Hill Road area in Clevedon, also covering Alexandra Road, Bellevue Road, and Gardens Road.

The cost of parking will be:

30 mins Free

1 hour £1.50

2 hours £2.50

3 hours £3.50

On-street “prime” locations

This will  only apply to Elton Road and Old Church Road in Clevedon. There will be different “peak” and “off peak” prices which could be in place on some days.

The cost of parking will be:

Peak charges

1 hour £1.50

4 hours £5.50

All-day £9.00

Off-peak charges

1 hour £1.50

4 hours £3.00

All-day £5.00

Car parks in “prime” locations

This will apply to the car parks at the Lake Grounds in Portishead.

The cost of parking will be:

Peak charges

1 hour £1.50

4 hours £5.00

All-day £8.00

Off-peak charges

1 hour £1.50

4 hours £2.60

All-day £4.00

Staying free

Not all car parks in the three towns will have parking charges introduced. The car parks which will stay free are Portishead’s Avon Way (West Hill), Kilkenny Fields (picnic grounds) and Nore Road car parks; Clevedon’s Coleridge Vale and Layde Bay car parks; and Nailsea’s Clevedon Road car park.