Hawkshead parking restrictions are 'making people feel unwelcome' (From The Westmorland Gazette)
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Hawkshead parking restrictions are 'making people feel unwelcome'
5:33pm Wednesday 5th September 2012 in News
By Daniel Orr, Reporter
RESIDENTS in Hawkshead claim new parking meters are affecting tourism and trade in the honeypot village.
More than 50 local people and business owners turned out to a public meeting on Tuesday evening where they expressed their unhappiness at the Parking Eye system in place on the main car park, owned by Lake District National Park Authority.
Drivers face a £90 fine should they go over their allotted time, and many believe this is putting people off visiting Hawkshead.
Kim Merrick, who runs Poppi Red, in Main Street, said: “It is scandalous and greedy. So many people have said to me that they won’t come back here next year because of the parking problem.
“People are rushing back to their cars and not enjoying their time here. We are making people feel unwelcome.”
David Nixon, LDNPA operations manager, organised the meeting because he was eager to address residents’ concerns, but added: “This system has been put in place because we were having so many people not paying for their parking.”
Dougie Bell, of Walker Ground Manor B&B, said: “Why was there no public consultation? Pay on exit seems to be a good way of dealing with this. It is the biggest problem that people have in Hawkshead.”
Simon Butterworth, of Collins and Butterworth pharmacy, said: “It is having a detrimental affect. We are getting a vast number of complaints from people.
“My business gets people from as far away as Coniston and Newby Bridge and they have got nowhere to park.”
Mr Nixon added: “If you are getting these complaints, we need to know about them. We have had 22 people complaining - appealing their fines - and 62,000 people have used the car park. You must get these people to complain to us. If we work together we might be able to sort something out.”
Residents agreed to look into setting up a working group.
Comments(7)
Lakeuk
says...
11:19pm Wed 5 Sep 12
Why are LDNPA and SLDC such failures when it comes to parking
Cas220
says...
12:53am Thu 6 Sep 12
Is this 'parking eye' the same system as the one being introduced in Kendal? If LDNPA and SDLC want to encourage people into our towns and villages they really should provide some free parking, how much exactly do they spend on the 'upkeep' of these car parks? Although you have to wonder why one part of the council is taking steps to make people drive into Kendal while another is trying to stop people driving into town....
life cycle too
says...
8:57am Thu 6 Sep 12
It would seem therefore that it is worth getting a partner to park the car rather than the registered keeper!
Aforementioned MoneySavingExpert.co
m has the details!
life cycle too
says...
9:02am Thu 6 Sep 12
Gingery
says...
9:03pm Fri 7 Sep 12
Two years ago I parked in Whitby, paid for 1 hour whilst I met with a friend. At the time we were sat opposite the car park, chatting about a fairly serious subject. He said "I'll look out for the warden, you'll be ok don't rush back". Err listening to him landed me with a £90 fine(60 if paid promptly), and we didn't see any warden. He must have been very quick. Fair enough I did exceed my time, and yes I deserved the ticket - which is why I always pay for far longer than I require. A pound or two saves £90. I do however know of people how always only ever pay for the minimum time and are always rushing back to their cars, often to find a penalty notice. Penalties have to be made because otherwise you'd have people pushing the limit all the time(just as I did that once).
Our roads and car parks are full and I don't know what the answer is.
darren m
says...
6:19pm Tue 11 Sep 12
snuggle-bunny says...
10:24pm Wed 5 Sep 12