The county council has proposed eight Devon communities, Tavistock among them, should have pay and display regimes, claiming this will support town and village trade by encouraging a quicker turnover of shoppers. It claims this will also encourage use of council car parks and make people more likely to come into town by bike or on the buses.
However,Tavistock mayor Andy Hutton has now formally asked that the county council defer public consultation, pending a meaningful evidence gathering exercise to see whether charges are necessary at all.
The letter has been sent to Councillor Stuart Hughes, county council member for highway management, on behalf of the mayors of Crediton, Dartmouth, Okehampton, Honiton and Tavistock and the chair of Braunton Parish Council.
The five towns and one parish council are opposed to the idea because they fear parking charges will harm trade and the vitality of their high streets by deterring visitors. Cllr Hutton urged a pause the consultation until ‘meaningful’ evidence is gathered to support the case for charging.
The letter expressed dismay’ and ‘disappointment’ at the lack of proper empirical evidence gathering by the county council (DCC). Businesses in Tavistock belonging to the Business Improvement District (BID) have collected their own evidence by surveying shoppers’ views and drivers’ behaviour and concluded that shoppers were likely to visit somewhere else with free parking. DCC highways suggests allowing half an hour free parking before charges kick-in. BID says most people are staying less than the hour’s free parking which already exists in Tavistock centre, therefore, there is little to benefit bringing it in, with all the associated costs of infrastructure and enforcement. The letter says DCC has not gathered any evidence, so the consultation is ‘unacceptable and undemocratic.’