BOTH Stroud and Nailsworth town councils have objected to the proposed end of free car parks in their towns after holding public meetings to discuss plans.

Stroud District Council is currently holding a period of consultation that could see the introduction of car parking charges at Stratford Park, in Stroud, and across a number of car parks in Nailsworth.

The proposed changes are being considered following an official report that suggests the charges would improve visitor numbers, and cut down on congestion in the towns.

However, independent surveys completed by both town councils suggest that the charges would discourage visitors, and town councillors have also criticised the report compiled by parking consultants Arup, calling it ‘inadequate’ and ‘flawed’.

Objections were raised by the Stroud Town Council following a survey of 1,389 people, 49 per cent of which said they would stop visiting Stratford Park and the leisure centre if the charges were introduced. A further 44 per cent said they would visit less often.

Town Mayor Kevin Cranston said: “Our own consultation demonstrates that many people really value the outdoor facilities, which make a significant contribution to supporting the district council’s health and wellbeing strategy, and that they would stop using them if charging were introduced.”

Additionally, councillors questioned the Arup’s research, stating that the evidence is inadequate because it fails to demonstrate the need to manage demand and that the research was not conducted over a wide enough time period.

In its letter of objection the town council states: “We understand that there is concern that the Stratford Park car park is being used for long-stay parking by people not using the park.

“If evidence can be provided to support this, a more practical solution would be to limit the amount of time people can stay in the car park, after which fixed penalty notices could be issued.

“This would enable people to continue to use the outdoors facilities at the park free of charge.”

Similar concerns were raised at a public meeting held by Nailsworth Town Council last week where a video was screened which appeared to discredit Arup’s report which suggests the town’s car parks were full, and charges were needed to be introduced to encourage ‘churn’ and free up parking spaces for more visitors to the town.

During the meeting in Nailsworth town hall which was attended by nearly 300 people, Mayor Jonathan Duckworth showed a video which he claimed contradicted the findings stated in Arup's report, which said that full car parks were discouraging visitors, and those looking for free spaces were causing congestion and pollution.

The video, a short clip of which can be seen below, appears to show that car parks in Nailsworth are seldom full, and visitor churn takes place at a natural pace throughout the day.

"They counted parked cars in our car parks every 15 minutes, but they did not say whether they were counting different cars – so it does not measure churn, the very thing they say is so important," Mr Duckworth said.

"We measured one of car parks every 15 minutes over a longer period of time, and it’s not often full, cars come and go all day long. Arup has made a massive assumption.”

Other matters discussed during the crowded meeting were why no official briefing document had been sent out to Arup outlining the purpose of the report, and why weakness identified in a previous consultation seven years ago hadn’t been heeded. Namely, that individual towns should have been looked at individually, because the effect on the district is actually the sum of the locations.

Dramatically a statement was also read out on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce for Market Rasen, one of the case studies included in Arup’s report as evidence that there was little or no correlation between car park charges and footfall.

An excerpt from Arup’s report said:

“Following implementation of parking charges in 2017 a petition was formed by local people against the decision to introduce charges, citing concerns including; deterring visitors; reducing town centre competitiveness and negative impact on town centre businesses and shop keepers.

“Subsequently, a review was undertaken to assess the impact of the introduction of car parking charges in Market Rasen. The results of this showed that there was no correlation between vacancy rates in the town centre and car parking charges.”

However the statement, read out by Nailsworth Chamber of Trade representative Sarah Martin, a spokesperson for the Market Rasen Chamber of Commerce said he was ‘astonished’ that their town had been included as an example:

“I wish to tell you of my astonishment... The report is not just misleading it is diametrically opposed to the reality of our town to the extent that it must call into question the validity of the entire Arup report.

“[The report] appears to suggest that this was successful, but does not report that the affect was exactly the opposite – it reduced footfall, and spend. This was equivalent to loss in turnover of businesses of £250,000 per year. This is an astonishing omission.”

Those present at the meeting, around 300 residents and business owners, also voted unanimous against the parking charges:

A spokesman for Stroud District Council said that the surveys had been undertaken according to ‘industry standards’, but is yet to provide details of where the standards were publically available, or who had set them.

 “The car parking surveys conducted by Arup were undertaken according to industry standards, existing studies and research was reviewed, and charges were benchmarked with comparable towns.

“Sadly, unlike at meetings held by Dursley, Stroud and Wotton-under-Edge town councils, Stroud District Council representatives were not given the opportunity at the Nailsworth meeting to explain and answer questions about the report and explain the benefits of modest charges, contactless payment, free after 3pm, and improved cycle facilities.

“Stroud District Council is consulting on proposed changes to parking which include modest charges between 8am and 5pm, free parking after 3pm in certain locations, contactless payment, installation of electric vehicle charging points and improved cycling facilities.

“Currently charges only apply for SDC cars parks in Stroud, Painswick and Stonehouse and the proposed charges are amongst the cheapest in Gloucestershire.

“No decision has yet been made and we have consulted widely with parish and town councils, district councillors, the Federation of Small Businesses, at supermarkets, with schools and offered members of the public the chance to comment via a dedicated section of the SDC website or by post.

“The final decision will be made by elected members of the council’s Strategy and Resources Committee, who will take all consultation responses in to account. The consultation period has been doubled from the statutory three weeks to six to allow extra time to respond.”

Speaking after the meeting district councillors for Nailsworth issued a statement:

“Sue Reed, Steve Robinson and Norman Kay, the local elected District Councillors all confirmed that they have opposed the introduction of charges from the beginning and will vote against. “This is a matter of principle for all of us.”

The consultation remains open until July 29, full details can be found at stroud.gov.uk