Melton Mowbray shop owner criticises parking charges
He claims they're driving customers away
A business owner has called on his borough councillors to act now over high parking charges to save his town centre.
Jamie How, owner of the How Sweet sweet shop in King Street, in Melton Mowbray, has said the town’s high parking charges are threatening the survival of businesses.
Mr How, who reached out to the Local Democracy Reporting Service following an article on how the new parking charges in Oadby and Wigston are impacting businesses, added he is scared about how dead the town centre is.
He said: “The parking charges are killing the town. People say ‘every town is suffering’ and every town is suffering, but it’s down to the council to help try to alleviate the situation. But Melton Borough Council does nothing. £2.30 for two hours is the highest parking charges in the county.
“The town is dying. A week last Saturday, I sold two items, I made £3.75. On a Saturday. It isn’t worth it.
“It’s tough out there, but when I am standing in the shop and sell £3.75 worth of stuff on a Saturday, that was one ice cream and one lolly, it’s scary.
“You can’t survive. I can’t go on like that forever. Nobody could, there are other people suffering, it’s not just me. And it’s scary.”
Melton Borough Council said the drop in footfall is part of the ongoing impact of the pandemic.
A spokesperson for the council added: “We have been working with partners to encourage more people into town when it is safe to do so via our Shop Safe, Shop Local campaign, support for local businesses in the town via the now closed Town Centre fund, which supported 26 town centre businesses with grants, and ongoing work relating to the beautification of the town.
“Indeed over the last six months we have seen many new shops in the centre open which has reduced the vacancy rate and signals the confidence business owners have in the vitality of the town.”
Charges in Melton Mowbray’s short stay car parks start at £1.20 for one hour, £2.30 for up to two hours, £3.40 for up to three hours and then £4 for up to four hours.
Drivers can park for 20 minutes free in St Mary’s Way car park, but still need to obtain a ‘free ticket’ from the machine.
Long stay car parks in the town are priced at £2.50 for up to three hours, or £4.50 to park all day.
Melton Borough Council added it still provides free parking for motorbikes and blue badge holders and a permit scheme is available to help reduce costs for regular users.
Mr How added the parking charges mean more people are using the six nearby supermarkets to run their errands, driving shoppers away from the high street.
“It’s a deterrent,” he said. “What are you going to do? There are six national supermarkets in Melton, four away from the town centre.
“They all offer free parking, will people pay £2.30 or go shopping where it’s free? It’s not too difficult to make a reasoned guess.
“Blaby is 30p for two hours. I was over in Blaby a few weeks ago and it’s a busy little town and they’ve got Fosse Park on their doorstep.
“Hinckley is free in set car parks after 3pm, when it’s half term they do a free week. Four o’clock in Melton, you see tumble weed going down the street.
“Market Harborough increased their bays for some in street parking where it was free for 40 minutes up to an hour, so they’re trying to do something.
“Melton, the only change they’ve made in parking was about a year, two years ago. What they used to do was charge extra on market day, on a Tuesday.
“Because people were coming into town, they exploited the situation by increasing the charges. People were moaning about it for years and they said ‘you’re quite right, we’re going to make it the same as every other day’.
“And then what did they do? They increased the price of parking across the board. You can’t win, you cannot win.”
The borough council said it dropped the Tuesday premium as a result of a public consultation into parking charges, adding: “The increase in charges were a result of a zero increase in the previous four years and designed to cover the cost of inflation as well as the additional costs of maintaining car parks within the town centre area.
“Significant public consultation was undertaken with key partners, stakeholders and the public before these new charges were introduced.
“Following feedback from members of the public, the council’s car parks continue to be free to use after 6pm and before 7:30am, as well as free on Sundays and Bank Holidays.”
The borough council added it has continued to support businesses through Covid grants, relaxing planning controls to allow businesses to create more covered spaces outside and supporting pre-Christmas trade in the four weeks leading up to Christmas by allowing people to park for free on Fridays.