I’ve been wondering for some time why each time I walk through the Council’s Cowplain Car Park it is mostly empty. Here is a post from earlier this year when the car park was also jolly empty.
The photographs below were taken during a lunchtime this week, the photos show just a few spaces being used.
I’ve been asking around locally, why is this paid car park normally empty?
I’ve been given a few reasons, they may or may not surprise you?
Many shoppers don’t park in the designated paid car park, they park at:
- The free Padnell Avenue Doctor’s Surgery Car Park & Chemist
- The free Co-op Car Park
- The free Lidl Car Park
… and then visit different the Cowplain shops without visiting or purchasing an item from the shop that owns the free car park they used.
Surely fixing this is simple? Give an hour’s free short stay car parking at this Council Car Park during the week. Cowplain businesses and residents would benefit. The Council benefits from additional income from the new businesses that fill the vacant and much-more-attractive-with-free-parking Cowplain shops. Everyone is happy.
How about 2 hours free parking? I can guarantee it would increase the footfall of all the shops in front of this car park. But I guess the council are only interested in using this as a cash cow, even though it is criminally under used
Well Stu, it’d set a precedent, and also there is an element of risk. I can’t see them going for it, can you?
I live in Kings Road adjacent to this car park and can add that Kings Road is used all the time by people using the shops and restaurants, can I also add these people often drive expensive cars, Jags, BMW’s and Mercedes and it occurs to me that if they can afford these cars they can afford to park them for a couple of hours in the car park. The Dental practice staff on Kings Road from receptionist to Dentist also park on Kings Road along with most of their clients! Plus my favourite, a chap that works for Hambledon Builders (a building in the carpark) who parks his large Transit van in the road then goes to the entrance of the carpark to be picked up by a work van for the day’s work elsewhere, why the driver of the van cannot pick this chap up from his home I wouldn’t like to guess at! I know that people that own cars pay tax on them and they feel this entitles them to park anywhere they like but it would be nice if they showed a little compassion for the locals.