Town centre car parks empty on first day of increased charges

One of the empty car parks on the day the new £5 parking charge was introduced

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Rochdale centre could easily be mistaken for a ghost-town in these images snapped at 9am on Saturday (26 August) – the same day the new parking charges were introduced.

Under the new charges, parking for over six hours a day has increased by a whopping 80% to £5 in Rochdale and Middleton town centres.

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/112047/council-car-park-charges-increase

Local business owner, Greg Couzens is outraged with the decision and is also concerned low-paid workers will struggle to park in the town.

He commented: “This equates to workers having to pay £100 per month to park. I fully expect parking charges to increase when the town centre redevelopment comes to fruition, but this is a premature decision based on greed and income: our town centre is still struggling, delays with the redevelopment, still no plans for a market, lack of shops and shoppers.

“Are town centre workers not shoppers? Are 1,800 workers at Number One Riverside going to continue to shop?

“A simple solution would be to use the land owned by the Council on the other side of John Street and provide parking for council staff and shop workers.

He concluded: “I believe that this decision will be detrimental in the redevelopment of our Town Centre.”

A pioneer in campaigning for free parking, Mr Couzens appeared on BBC Breakfast in 2013 singing the praises of the ‘free after three’ scheme, which was introduced to boost the economy and bring business back into the town centre.

Mr Couzens recalled the move cost the Council around £160,000.

Speaking at the time, he said: “Parking revenue should never have been a revenue, and that needs to be addressed.”

Clifford Harker, who runs the Haberdashery on Baillie Street, noted the market traders who have parking permits will be affected by the charges when they move site.

He said: “It’s going to have to be a necessity, although it will still be cheaper than a parking permit.”