North Somerset Council are proposing to implement on-street parking charges to a number of roads within Clevedon, these are Hill Road, Alexandra Road, Bellevue Road, Gardens Road and Elton Road.
Hill Road and Alexandra Road are ‘destination shopping’ areas, currently home to a variety of independent shops, businesses, galleries, cafes and restaurants.
For most retailers in these areas, a substantial proportion of their customer base is made up of impulse-driven leisure shoppers, browsing-based purchasers and destination visitors, in addition to a core of loyal, repeat customers.
Most businesses are reliant on the specific attributes of their location including the overall look and feel of the streets, the collective attraction of their neighbouring retailers and businesses, accessibility to customers including free parking and the surrounding attractions of the area including the sea front, the Pier, local architecture, famous film locations etc.
To remove or detract from those key factors, would likely have a significant and detrimental impact on the traders in the area. This has been seen in other parts of the country including Nailsea, Thornbury and Keynsham, where parking charges have been recently introduced, and footfall has reduced by over 30% in some areas.
Some of the businesses are already struggling with rising costs and reduced consumer spending, so deterring customers from coming to browse, visit the cafes and other businesses on the street could seriously impact the economic viability of Hill Road for independent shops.
It is felt that the proposals will negatively impact trade for the majority of traders – particularly those who trade during core business house (in-line with the proposed charging hours).
Traders are also raising questions about the Council’s consultation process. They claim it has been poorly managed and they feel it has lacked engagement with affected businesses.
Local traders are calling for a pause to the proposed changes and a commitment to transparent, meaningful consultation that puts the needs of communities and local economies first.
Discover Clevedon, the body that represents many of the businesses within Clevedon, is supporting the traders in the impacted areas and are also calling for North Somerset Council review the process undertaken to date, and for further consultation to take place before any further plans are put in place.
In addition, Discover Clevedon are aware that NSC owned carparks around Clevedon, which are currently free to use, are also going to be subject to new parking charges. These include Great Western Road East, Great Western Road West and Marson Road carparks. They also believe that parking charges are likely to be introduced on the Sea Front.
The likely impact of introducing on-street charges around the Hill Road area, the Sea Front and NSC owned car parks, in addition to the proposed reduction in size of the car park by BNM, will deter impulse shoppers, visitors and casual browsers from visiting the town generally.
There is also the risk of an increase in parking on residential streets, as can be seen in the vicinity of the Salthouse Car Park. This could lead to need for Permits.
Please show your support to local businesses and sign the petition against the parking charges, which can be found here.