Stop car parking charges in Bedale

Hambleton District Council is proposing to introduce car parking charges to generate £450,000pa.

According to their figures the contribution from Bedale will be £18,200 initially; this is the 'self-financing' option, i.e. this will just cover the costs of introducing the scheme. Yet the impact on local businesses will be significant, both on their customers and their employees.

Anyone who cannot find a space in the Market Place uses the car parks even if they are only ‘popping in for a bit of shopping’, these shoppers will not add 50p a day to their bills. Tourists will drive through rather than stop and shop.

The people who work in Bedale and need the long stay parking will effectively be taking a pay cut, if they have to pay for parking or will park on surrounding roads.

The council’s figures suggest that 7% of cars will disperse to surrounding roads if the charge is 50p per day, if the charge increases to £1.50 a day the dispersal rate increases to 21%; this is the level that they are prepared to accept in Northallerton and Thirsk, so it is highly likely that the charge in Bedale will rise quickly to £1.50 per day.

Business rates paid for 49.7% of Hambleton’s net expenditure in 2006/7, yet these proposals will directly affect local businesses.