OVER the last few weeks there has been considerable discussion in your newspaper (and on the Standard website) about parking in Cirencester. I think it would be useful to clarify the council’s position.

1 Some comments would indicate that there is an acute shortage of parking spaces in the town nearly all of the time. However, the council has commissioned surveys across car parks in the town over the last couple of months and we have found that – with the exception of Fridays and Saturdays – there are plenty of spaces available overall, especially in the Brewery car park and the Leisure Centre car park off Tetbury Road.

2 To counter the extra demand on Saturdays, we have offered free parking at our Trinity Road headquarters (GL7 1 PX) on weekends, and we are pleased to note that St James’ Place (GL7 1FP) has also followed suit. Our surveys show that demand on Fridays tends to peak between 11am and 1pm but the situation tends to ease after 2pm; motorists who are not tied to those peak times may wish to take advantage of the improved availability of spaces earlier in the morning and later in the afternoon.

3 When the Forum car park is reopened after refurbishment work later this month this will bring over 100 additional spaces back into use and should remedy the current situation. In the meantime, we have noted that there is a quick turnover of spaces at the Brewery in particular, and we would encourage newly arrived motorists to wait there for a few minutes in the knowledge that parking should become available.

4 We are keen to work with traders in the town in the knowledge that many of their customers require good parking facilities. Some car parks are more popular than others but overall there are normally spaces available within a 5-10 minute walk of any destination in Cirencester. The price of parking has been frozen for the last four years (or even reduced in some instances). We can assure residents that the surplus generated is all spent on essential services, including the provision of car parks, toilets,  community safety, street cleansing, environmental protection and litter management. 

5 A recent article in the Standard indicated that the council chose to delay a parking meeting with the local Chamber of Commerce because I was on maternity leave. A senior colleague was covering my duties in my absence and would have been more than willing to attend, but both parties agreed to a postponement of the meeting by a few days to coincide with my imminent return to work. The Standard corrected an online error which indicated that this decision went against the wishes of the Chamber of Commerce but the same mistake remained in the paper copy of the article.

6 Finally, I can assure residents that the council is working on a specific project to identify future parking requirements in the town and will embed those findings in the emerging Local Plan. 

CLAIRE LOCKE

Head of Environmental Services

Cotswold District Council

Cirencester