Splashed across no less than the front page of yesterday's Free Press was "Car park charges slashed". There can be no misunderstanding that Rhuthun/Ruthin is suddenly that little bit more attractive. I'd like to think that the entire population of Dinbych might now consider visiting us.
It certainly made better reading than last week's hoardings that proclaimed that Rhuthun has a drugs problem. On page seven, a judge warned of Rhuthun's "big problem with cannabis". This follows the conviction of a couple who pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply. But, scandalously, they're not the only ones. The judge seems to have it right. I suspect that some people reading this will know who also supplies. It's a bit of an open secret. It's even more surprising that the police don't seem to know. But this blog is neither edited by Rebekah Brooks née Wade nor does it act as a kind of vigilante. We would ask that no one names names under Comments.
Back to car parking, two things surprised me. The first was the lack of support or indeed any comment in the Free Press from those who've been lobbying hard on this.
And the second was the general lukewarm reception from those blog readers who chose to comment on Monday's post. At other times, commenters (perhaps different ones) had been quite quick to castigate perceived higher parking charges as a deterrent to locals and visitors alike. The evidence might suggest that parking charges have less of an effect on town centre numbers either way yet a wholesale reduction in costs of such significant proportions is nevertheless something to welcome. You never know. Let's be optimistic. The funding could've been spent elsewhere although my understanding is that this was new money and nothing was sacrificed as a result. I don't think we can have it both ways. We cannot expect lower parking charges without someone stepping in to cover the deficit.
It still seems the fairest to lobby for Tesco to charge the same as town for its "free" parking. If only. For it is Tesco that has pushed car parking charges squarely into the public domain.
It seems that the only bad news about parking charges will be in two years' time when the pilot ends.
A commenter asked about charges on the Square. The new prices are 30p for ¾ hour (as before) and £1 for three hours. This is very generous for what is premium space.
From memory (and the evidence has now gone from the machine), this used to be something like as follows: 30p for ¾ hour; £1.20 for 1¾ hours; £2.90 for 2¾ hours and £4.20 for 3¾ hours.
The Square was the first area to see charges in Rhuthun. The regime was imposed by the former Glyndŵr district council with the specific intention of controlling the limited parking on the Square that would often be blocked for long periods. This was several years ahead of Denbighshire's decision to charge at all car parks.
The other control measure introduced by the district council, you may recall, was to lock the entrance to Market Street car park, opposite the main entrance to what is now County Hall, between something like 8 o’clock and 9.30 a.m. This, I recall, was to prevent council staff using the free car park as an alternative or overflow to their own.
It certainly made better reading than last week's hoardings that proclaimed that Rhuthun has a drugs problem. On page seven, a judge warned of Rhuthun's "big problem with cannabis". This follows the conviction of a couple who pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply. But, scandalously, they're not the only ones. The judge seems to have it right. I suspect that some people reading this will know who also supplies. It's a bit of an open secret. It's even more surprising that the police don't seem to know. But this blog is neither edited by Rebekah Brooks née Wade nor does it act as a kind of vigilante. We would ask that no one names names under Comments.
Back to car parking, two things surprised me. The first was the lack of support or indeed any comment in the Free Press from those who've been lobbying hard on this.And the second was the general lukewarm reception from those blog readers who chose to comment on Monday's post. At other times, commenters (perhaps different ones) had been quite quick to castigate perceived higher parking charges as a deterrent to locals and visitors alike. The evidence might suggest that parking charges have less of an effect on town centre numbers either way yet a wholesale reduction in costs of such significant proportions is nevertheless something to welcome. You never know. Let's be optimistic. The funding could've been spent elsewhere although my understanding is that this was new money and nothing was sacrificed as a result. I don't think we can have it both ways. We cannot expect lower parking charges without someone stepping in to cover the deficit.
It still seems the fairest to lobby for Tesco to charge the same as town for its "free" parking. If only. For it is Tesco that has pushed car parking charges squarely into the public domain.
It seems that the only bad news about parking charges will be in two years' time when the pilot ends.
A commenter asked about charges on the Square. The new prices are 30p for ¾ hour (as before) and £1 for three hours. This is very generous for what is premium space.
From memory (and the evidence has now gone from the machine), this used to be something like as follows: 30p for ¾ hour; £1.20 for 1¾ hours; £2.90 for 2¾ hours and £4.20 for 3¾ hours.
The Square was the first area to see charges in Rhuthun. The regime was imposed by the former Glyndŵr district council with the specific intention of controlling the limited parking on the Square that would often be blocked for long periods. This was several years ahead of Denbighshire's decision to charge at all car parks.
The other control measure introduced by the district council, you may recall, was to lock the entrance to Market Street car park, opposite the main entrance to what is now County Hall, between something like 8 o’clock and 9.30 a.m. This, I recall, was to prevent council staff using the free car park as an alternative or overflow to their own.