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Video: Monton forcing shoppers out with car park charges
by Victoria Howell
Businesses in Monton are feeling the strain since the introduction of car park charges. The charges on the formerly free Partington Street car park came into force on 3rd October 2011. Visitors to the village now have to pay £1.50 to park for the first two hours, rising to £3.50 for over three hours. It seems that motorists just aren’t willing to pay, and shop owners and employers have noticed a vast reduction of people shopping in Monton. Workers at the Post Office, one of the longest-standing businesses on the main high street of Monton Road, agrees that the branch is a lot quieter. Pam Scanlan said: “As far as I can remember, there has always been a Post Office in Monton. I have worked at this particular shop for over ten years and since the car park introduced its charges, we have not been as busy. People don’t want to nip in to post a letter or buy a card if it is costing them an extra £1.50.” Some shopowners have been forced had to cut their opening hours. Desna Wallis, owner of Sunset Boulevard, said: “I opened this business 12 years ago and I don’t think I have ever seen the village this quiet. The lack of custom has meant I’ve been forced to shut the shop every Monday as well as reduce the opening hours on a Thursday.” Chef Jackie Washington has been working at The Coffee House for two years, and said the Monton Road shop saw an increase in custom when the BBC filmed part of its sitcom White Van Man there: “It was brilliant, it brought a real buzz to Monton." But car parking charges, says Jackie, have cancelled out any positive boost to the business. "Many of our regular customers have stopped coming because they can’t afford that extra money two or three times a week. What’s really sad is that most of our regular customers are elderly people who used to really enjoy there small trips here.” Some shops are even considering shutting down for good. Louise Barton, owner of the florist Village Emporium, said: “My business is in dire straits. The way things are going, I’m going to be forced to shut down. I’m even behind on paying my rent and that has never happened before. I can honestly say that I think the car park has crippled everyone.” Councillor for Eccles, Lisa Stone, told SalordOnline that annual parking passes were reducing the cost of parking for businesses. Stone said: “I can confirm that so far the council has agreed to offer businesses the option to purchase annual parking passes which reduces the cost of parking from the £3.50 per day to approximately £1.77 per day.” The charges came into force when Salford City Council's planning committee approved a Traffic Regulation Order in July. They hoped it would raise an extra £62,000 in 2011/12. Figures obtained by SalfordOnline show that the Partington Street car park has netted Salford Council £20,158 from the period 3rd October to 31st December 2011. Of that, £11,043 has come from pay and display tickets, while £3,330 has been paid in contract parking, and visitors have been fined £5,785 from Penalty Charge Notices. Motorists have also seen 128 parking tickets issued from parking on Monton Road, with the vast majority fined for parking in a loading place during restricted hours. These tickets have generated £2,780. Cllr Stone continued: “I would like to warn people to refrain from parking in the bay outside Tesco or on the single yellow line on Gordon Road. The numbers of people receiving parking tickets is very high and this is something we don’t want.” Residents in Monton are also struggling with these new prices. Chloe Hamilton, a 25-year-old student, said: “As a resident of Landsdowne Road, I have a permit to park my car. However, when I have visitors they are finding it very hard to park. The side roads which are not for permit holders are now continuously full with workers or shoppers who do not want to pay the prices of the car park.” Cllr Stone said this is something they are looking in to, however: “I have asked if consideration can be made to provide weekly or monthly tickets to residents, so that for example, if a resident has a visitor for some time they can park at a reduced rate. "I would also like to point out that I have been in talks with Urban Vision regarding the parking issues on the streets off Monton Road. Unfortunately the scheme which is in place at present is over 30 years old and has a condition that if it is amended, the scheme becomes invalid. "A new scheme would then be introduced which would actually reduce the current parking spaces by around 40–50%.” Car parking charges are also in effect in Eccles and Swinton town precincts. Eccles shoppers are being made to pay £1.50 for the first two hours, £2.50 up to four hours and £4.50 all day. Swinton was intially hit hard by the charges causing the prices to be reviewed. As it stands, Swinton allows the first two hours’ parking free, followed by up to four hours at £1, six hours at £2, eight hours at £3 and all day at £4. However, the Swinton car park is not council owned so this may not be an indication that Monton will follow in these footsteps. Shop owner, Alan Gorton, owned A&A Sports on Swinton precinct for six years. However, once the charges were introduced, he was forced to move his business: “As soon as the charges were introduced, my takings decreased by half. The weaker shops, which were already struggling, closed down. "It became a downward spiral; fewer people resulted in fewer shops. I decided to move to Salford Precinct, although it still charges, Salford is a bigger area with more well known shops. "A lot of people tend to walk on to the shopping centre as there are big residential areas around. We should be thinking of ways to entice people back to their local shopping areas. What could be a short term financial fix for the council could result in a long term loss.” Councilor Stone continues to work towards finding a solution to the problem of the charges. She said: “I do back my Party’s decision to enforce these charges; due to the financial constraints upon the council after the funding cuts from central government, the decision was made city-wide to introduce charges. However, I can understand how difficult it is for businesses and I have asked for the charges to be revised.” Monton’s businesses all agreed that a solution to this ongoing problem would be to have the first hour of parking free or to introduce new free bays in Monton. Councillor Stone agreed with this: “I have asked that the charges be revised. However, my request for the first hour to be free has been declined. I have asked that the charges be reviewed after Christmas.”
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