Winchester MP Steve Brine has added his voice to growing concerns about planned changes to parking arrangements in the city.
Mr Brine said proposals to introduce Sunday charges should go back to the drawing board and City Councillors should listen again to detailed representations being made by local business leaders; “I understand the council must examine every possible way to balance its budget in difficult times and I am not saying Sunday charging should be ruled out altogether. I do however, think 10am is too early and the administration should seriously consider a noon start time. I think that would go some way to satisfying the businesses as well as city centre churches who fear the early charge will hit their congregations.”
Steve Brine said he had received a lot of feedback on the proposals since featuring the issue in his Winchester Post newspaper, which was delivered to homes across the city before Christmas, and as a result of recent coverage in The Hampshire Chronicle. The new Executive Director of Winchester’s Business Improvement District Professor Turner wrote to the paper just before Christmas to say Sunday charges as proposed would be a “calamity” for Winchester’s retailers. He criticised the move from Winchester City Council which he said comes in spite of detailed representations being made by the BID and Hampshire Chamber of Commerce.
Mr Brine also criticised plans that could ban cars from The Square, Great Minster Street and Market Street from April. “While I can of course see the attraction of making this area fully pedestrianised, it has to be carefully balanced with the effect on businesses and I don’t think we should be making it any harder for them right now. Many of the people I represent can’t walk or cycle into Winchester and lots of them will fly into town to pick things up from the retailers in this part of the city. I know many with young children find it extremely useful to stop in The Square for a few minutes if they need to pop into the back of Boots for urgent supplies.”
Linked to this the MP said he was also really disappointed to see the free half-hour parking in some city centre spaces disappear; “This is a really bad idea and I would urge the council to think again before it risks real damage to some of our city centre retailers.”
Pictured; Steve is interviewed on city parking charges by BBC South Today’s Jo Kent
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