Parking Charges

7 February 2005

John Winskill
Chief Executive
Carrick District Council
Pydar Street
Truro
Kernow

Dear John,

I am alarmed that the Council is yet again raising car parking charges in Truro. The proposed increase in the one hour tariff is a 40% uplift. Trading conditions in this town have to be competitive. Truro does not have a monopoly. Over the past fifteen years perceptions of Truro amongst visitors, workers, residents and investors have altered. Truro is now perceived as being a place which is both expensive and difficult to park in. The town relies for its success on two things:

1. a varied and strong mix of services and retailing set in a pleasant
   and compact environment,
2. accessibility.

I would be grateful if you would let me know what detailed analysis has been undertaken by the Council in order to demonstrate that the economic well being of Truro will be enhanced by, or can sustain, this gratuitous rise in car parking charges at this time. For instance, has the Council undertaken an economic ‘health-check’ this year?

It is increasingly clear that climate change is compelling all of us to reconsider how we do what we do, where we do it and when. If Truro is to respond to such radical change as is likely to occur in combatting climate change then the town must be able to invest in public infrastructure which will enable a sharp reduction in the volume of polluting traffic whilst at the same time greatly improving accessibility to the town. This is what car-parking revenue should be used for whilst we still have it available. It is vital that Truro is able to make adequate provision for this future economic development.

It is a fundamental weakness of Carrick District Council’s ongoing financial planning that it relies so heavily upon car park income (the bulk of which derives from Truro). The use of car parking revenue to support the wider budget, as opposed to investing it back into the town, or enabling car parking charges to be an instrument for managing economic competitiveness, leaves the Council vulnerable and leaves the town overtaxed and with no public investment of substance coming back into the economy.

I am writing to express the concerns which have been voiced to me by very many people over a number of years that the scale of parking charges is having a detrimental effect on trade – and therefore upon jobs and upon the residential environment – and that Truro is being denied the ability to invest properly in its future. This is proving to be a significant weakness as the town faces up to significant changes posed by

• responding to climate change,
• new technologies,
• improving performance of competitors.

I therefore think it is important for you to consider whether it is time to develop strategies for using car parking revenues to invest back directly into the economies and communities which generate them. The current position means that increasing numbers of people are asking the fundamental question:

“Is the town here to serve the interests of the Council, or the Council here to serve the interests of the town?”

Yours sincerely,
Bert Biscoe