Research being carried out before free parking period ends in Melton

Melton Borough Council was forced to suspend charges in its car parks on May 22 following a ‘clerical error’ to do with not properly publicising increased charges which came into force in April.

Ticket machines have been closed up in the council’s car parks in Burton Street, Parkside, Mill Street, Scalford Road, St Mary’s Way, Chapel Street, Wilton Road and at Waterfield Leisure Centre but motorists will need to pay again from this Saturday.

The council estimates it has lost about £40,000 in revenue from allowing free car parks with many of them being completely full during the free period.

It has undoubtedly led to many visiting the town more often leading to a shot in the arm for businesses in Melton but this must be balanced by local workers taking advantage of not having to pay by leaving their vehicles in car parks all day and blocking the usual high turnover of parkers, particularly in the short stay car parks.

Melton BID is working with the borough council to identify the full impact of free parking in Melton town centre.

BID manager, James Colclough, told the Melton Times: “I’m working with Councillor Sharon Butcher to survey the businesses and extract the footfall data and give a full data-driven report.

"Early indications show that there is a real need for business parking in town – as well as a limited free period for shoppers, such as two hours free and/or free after 3pm, and of course the BID will campaign for what is required to help the town prosper commercially.

"Once the report is done I will be able to share the findings.

“It is worth noting that it’s still free up to June 14 so there is more data to be gathered and also last week being half-term that always has an impact.”

Councillor Butcher, who holds the portfolio for the town centre, said the error which led to the three weeks of free parking was regrettable but it had given the town an opportunity to look into parking patterns and trends.

She said: “There are many options to look at and, at the end of the 21 days, James from the Melton Bid and I are going to go through the footfall, the spend increases or losses for business and the fact that workers are using the car parks, which did lead to some shoppers going home, which was a negative impact,

"There is so much to look at during this clerical error, which of course we’ve taken seriously at Melton Borough Council.

"Things are now in place from lessons learned but we must look at the data for our town businesses.”

Council leader, Pip Allnatt, leader of the borough council, said the authority was conducting a stringent internal review into how the ‘clerical error’ occurred and how to prevent it happening again in future.