Parking In The Village
Background
Over the last few years, it has become increasingly apparent that car parking within the village is becoming more difficult. As well as providing parking for residents and local businesses, the village also caters for a large rural population from Cranage, Goostrey and other villages who make use of the local shops, library, Health Centre and other facilities. The centre is also a convenient location for leaving parked cars while continuing journeys by train, bus, or using car-share arrangements. Overall there has been a significant increase in demand over the last few years.
There are many small private car parks located around the village as well as two small car parks owned by Congleton Borough Council. Car parks belonging to retail owners are generally treated as available for general use and this co-operative approach is the most satisfactory way to utilise the spaces available. However, this balance of ownership means the village is vulnerable to the actions of private owners and what has been available for public use in the past may not continue to be available.
The Parish Council believe that the Borough Council should not impose any controls over their car parks without taking a wider view of its implications on the village as a whole. Nor do the Parish Council hold out much hope that additional land is likely to become available for parking in the village centre. Any re-development would involve high value land which is unlikely to provide parking spaces except those dedicated to the new occupiers' business. Even land such as the site of the fire station and the telephone exchange, should they be re-located, would have to be sold on at full value although in the event of retail redevelopment some additional parking spaces might be created for general use.
The Council is therefore considering what can be done to ease the current situation.
Potential Solutions
Time Restrictions
By restricting car parking in the centre to, say, two free hours we believe the current parking difficulties would be considerably reduced.
Naturally there will be various issues to resolve such as consideration to those requiring immediate operational access to their cars and servicing to business premises. It would also be necessary to make provisions for those working in the village but who do not need immediate access to their cars. By providing some long stay parking within walking distance of the centre of the village a satisfactory solution could be achieved. In fact if the parking were near the railway station it would also cater for those who wish to use public transport to continue their journey or wish to car share.
Long Stay Car Park
Although we support public transport initiatives and wish to ensure there are adequate links with surrounding towns this will not help our local parking problem. In fact a good inter-town public service may encourage people to leave their cars parked in the village whilst they travel further afield. This is a further reason for the provision of an out of centre long stay car park which could be serviced by a public transport interchange perhaps as part of the planning of new housing developments.
Encourage Green Awareness
In line with other 'green' initiatives we would like to enourage villagers to walk into the village centre as much as possible. However, many residents visit the centre in their cars on their way to other destinations and we would not wish to restrict such short visits to the village centre which could be detrimental to local business. In fact, the Parish Council must assist traders in ensuring that parking is readily available for short term use.