"Free" Parking

In a strongly worded and critical treatise available on its website, Ymlaen Rhuthun Forward seems to have taken on the mantle of lobbying for moderated car parking charges across Denbighshire. No one likes to pay for parking though it’s been a reality in smaller towns for about 10 years. Ymlaen looks at the likes of Tesco and other variously out of town retailers who provide free parking and then compares this with the charges levied in our towns.

There's actually no such thing as free parking. Tesco may offer parking for the convenience of its customers "free" at the point of use, but this is land that it must rent, service and maintain. It comes at a cost to Tesco and, indirectly, to its customers via the cost of goods in its store.

So, let’s turn the town-versus-Tesco parking debate on its head. Perhaps Ymlaen might instead lobby for either:

1. Charging Tesco customers for parking (and at all other similar "free" car parks); or
2. Businesses to take on the responsibility of paying directly for town centre car parking rather than motorists, for the convenience of the town centre’s customers.

Out of centre parking charges may at first sight seem a crazy idea but that's exactly the debate people are having in Iwerddon/Éire/Airlann/Ireland, right now. If agreed, it would effectively end universal free parking at supermarkets, retail centres, cinemas and so on. Translated to Rhuthun/Ruthin, that would include Tesco, Co-op, B & M and businesses on Lôn Parcwr. And it would be interesting to see how much people value convenience over cost.

The other idea might be that Rhuthun town centre businesses bear the whole financial responsibility of car parking between them, by paying the council directly, allowing motorists to park free at the point of use. This is effectively no different than Tesco. Aside from the obvious issue of all day car park blocking, it transfers the burden to those who rely on car parking most. If the "free" parking ethos is so fundamental to Tesco, why not apply it to the town itself?

Both measures might start to readdress the balance between off centre shopping and historic town centres such as Rhuthun's, where independent retailers suggest that edge of centre developments have a detrimental effect on them.