Mean Spirited?

Two minute read▼

You can take a view as to whether our car parks charges are too high or whether the cost is acceptable, especially for visitors. But March’s percentage increase is reasonable, given that the county council hasn’t put up charges since 2016. 

Where I diverge from our county councillors is the way they have added six chargeable hours to the span of the day. You now have to pay for the privilege of parking after 5 p.m. right through to 11 p.m. This slaps on a surcharge of £4 per vehicle to a night out. The cost of drinks for four alone is about £15 a round. People are already thinking twice when going out. 

Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m not aware of any town of Rhuthun/Ruthin’s size outside tourist honeypots that charge in the evening. Evening charging seems particularly punitive on the county’s part. There’s already evidence that people are parking on-street to avoid the evening charges. 

This includes parking on single yellow lines on the Square and elsewhere. It’s legitimate to do so on single yellow lines after the permitted cut-off period. There is a reason for that: the evening economy is different to that during the day. On the one hand, the county council recognises this as regards removing on-street parking restrictions; but not concerning car parks. 

Usually quiet here, this is evening parking on Saturday

There are also more cars on streets that once only had a handful of evening parked vehicles. 

Take Yr Wyddgrug/Mold. As attractive as the town is for shopping, you wouldn’t call Yr Wyddgrug a visitor centre. Flintshire recognises this. Flintshire charges till 10 p.m. at the Theatr Clwyd car park but the many town centre parking grounds are all free after 3 p.m. (not 5 p.m. as was the case in both Rhuthun and Yr Wyddgrug and certainly not 11 p.m.). 

To be free after 3 p.m. you have to wait in Denbighshire till December. If ‘free after 3’ is designed to boost a flagging local economy at a time when people are actually spending more money (at Christmas) then how much more do we need it during the rest of the year?

One month ‘free after 3’ is just a little mean spirited.