Agenda item

The Cabinet Member considered a petition requesting a review of the increased parking charges on High Streets and Council Car Parks.

The petition organiser introduced himself as a local business owner/ entrepreneur who represented the views and interests of independent business owners, residents and customers who were displeased by increased parking charges on High Streets and Council Car Parks.

The lead petitioner put forward to the Cabinet Member reasons to review the increased parking charges on High Streets and Council Car Parks. Key points raised by the petitioner included:

The increased parking charges discouraged both residents and non-residents from visiting Hillingdon when other nearby Boroughs and surrounding areas had similar offerings.

As a coffee shop owner, the lead petitioner found that one of the largest factors for sales was convenience. The petitioner highlighted that his store’s sales figures had decreased by 20% and that he now heavily relied on the powers of social media and petitions to connect with customers and ascertain their reasonings for no longer wishing to shop locally.

The lead petitioner had conducted a poll with 250 participants on 18 January 2023, out of which 98% of participants disagreed with the Council’s decision to increase parking charges on High Streets and Council Car Parks.

In Eastcote, where the petitioner’s business was located, shoppers needed only to travel an additional 3 minutes to Pinner in the London Borough of Harrow, where an hour of free parking was offered without the requirement to carry a Hillingdon First Card or its Borough equivalent, which was not always practical nor convenient to carry around or use.

The petitioner asked the rhetorical question of why friends and family from out-of-town visiting Hillingdon were required to pay twice as much as residents of the Borough were paying to visit the exact same coffee shops and restaurants in the area. In effect, this alienated people from visiting local businesses.

The petitioner cited Brent Cross Shopping Centre as an example of a well-known, relatively high-end shopping centre that was almost always busy which was attributable to the use of free parking. Thus, when it came to decision-making about where to shop, people were minded to visit Brent Cross Shopping Centre because of its parking benefits.

People spent less and saved more during the rising energy cost crisis and the Council’s decision to increase parking charges on High Streets and Council Car Parks was said to effectively shun non-residents.

Many customers who had moved out-of-town but used to re-visit the area to spend time with relatives no longer came back because of the increased parking charges.

The petition organiser concluded his statements and cited quotes from residents who wished to visit coffee shops similar to that of the lead petitioner’s but could no longer do so due to reasons pertaining to the increased parking charges on High Streets and Council Car Parks. Examples included:

‘I live in Harrow and it’s so expensive for me to go to Eastcote and Ruislip now. Harrow is still free for 60 minutes; surely Hillingdon want people from other Boroughs to come and visit and support their local businesses. The 30 minutes free should be for everyone’.

‘I lived in Ruislip for over 30 years and now live in South Harrow. I am still local and would like to continue to support the area, but the parking charges sadden me as I feel I can’t support a community I was a part of for such a long time. I feel pushed out of the community I grew up in.

The Cabinet Member acknowledged that there was 60 minutes free parking available but noted that research on the Harrow Scheme was not quite as presented and as it appeared to have applied only to on-street parking and not car parks.

Thatthe CabinetMember forResidents’ Services:

1.    Met with petitioners and listened to their request to review the increased parking charges on High Streets and Council Car Parks;

2.    Noted thatthe suggestionrequired avehicle registrationnumber tobe addedwhen purchasing a ticket from a pay and display machine and asked officers to complete their investigations into the full operational and financial implications of how a similar scheme could work in conjunction with the Hillingdon First scheme and to brief the Cabinet Member on the outcome of the review;

3.    Noted that the decision to amend the parking fees and charges was approved by Full Council on 24 February 2022; and

4.    Instructed officers  to add   the request  to  review  the  parking charges  on  High Streets  and  in Council  Car  Parks  to  Cabinet for  further  consideration.