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Sunday car parking charges would “irrevocably damage” Somerset’s town centres, a local church leader has said.
Somerset Council held a consultation in September and October on implementing car parking charges on Sundays across the county, aiming to take a “consistent approach to parking” and harmonise the various charges it inherited from the previous councils.
By replicating current parking prices on Sundays, the council estimates that it will raise around £730,000 of additional funding every year, which can be reinvested into different frontline services.
But councillors and a Taunton church leader have warned that implementing the charges could severely damage Somerset’s struggling high streets, with fewer people using the car parks to shop, eat out or attend religious services.
Judith Butler, pastor at Kingdom Faith Church in Taunton, made a plea against the charges when the council’s climate and place scrutiny committee met in the county town on Wednesday (November 19).
She said: “The findings of the public consultation are overwhelmingly in disagreement with the proposals, with almost 93 per cent [of respondents] either disagreeing or strongly disagreeing.
“Our congregation of about 200 people, along with many other neighbouring congregations, use the multi-storey car park on High Street and The Crescent car park throughout the week, and obviously on Sunday mornings.
“We regularly draw people in from Bridgwater, Yeovil, Chard, Ilminster, Hemyock, Tiverton, Wellington, Langford Budville and even as far as Minehead – who come not just to attend the church but then to do their grocery shopping and have lunch or shop in general in the town.
“I am hugely concerned that these costs will prove prohibitive, and if they still pay and choose to attend services, it will certainly prevent them from remaining in Taunton for lunch and shopping.
“To run our baby bank alone cost £425 a month, which is generously provided by our church members. Should Sunday charges be implemented, the natural conclusion would be available funds for project such as these would be greatly reduced.
“I know many wonderful churches in Taunton are providing valuable services which will be impacted by the proposed changes.
“I understand your finances are challenged, and I can appreciate that at first glance charging for parking might be able to help. But I firmly believe that the knock-on effects to services, businesses and the hospitality section will be irrevocably damaging and bring decline to the area.
“If we can remove parking charges on the Saturdays coming up to Christmas, in order to draw people into the town, I fail to understand why we don’t encourage that throughout the year by keeping parking free for one day a week.”
Under the proposals, the existing charges at car parks on Saturdays will be carried across to Sundays.
For examples, those using the High Street car park to attend Kingdom Faith Church or the nearby United Reform Church in Taunton will have to pay £2.60 to park for the two-hour service rather than using it free of charge.
Of the 4,186 people who responded to the consultation (the majority of which came from the Taunton or Wellington area), around one in six (16 per cent) listed attending religious services as one of their main reasons for using car parks on Sundays.
Nearly four in five (80 per cent) cited shopping as a reason for parking and just over three in five (61 per cent) listing leisure activities, such as visiting the local theatre.
Councillor John Hunt (Independent, Bishop’s Hull and Taunton West) said “virtually ever human being” he had spoken to was deeply against Sunday charging, and that going against the public made a mockery of the consultation process.
He said: “If you choose to vote in favour of Sunday parking charges, what is the point of this consultation, and why are we ignoring the overwhelmingly negative responses of the residents and businesses of Somerset?”
Any money the council makes from on-street parking or parking permits is ring-fenced – meaning it has to be spent directly on improvements to those parking areas and related highway maintenance.
Income from off-street parking, by contrast, is not ring-fenced – meaning it can be spent on any front-line service the council provides.
Councillor Henry Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat, Castle Cary) said: “We have gone out to consultation on Sunday parking, but not on other changes to parking.
“We should take this back to consultation on the whole parking strategy, so that the people of Somerset have the opportunity to ask their parish councils if they will pay for free parking. That is what we did in south Somerset.”
Councillor Bob Filmer (Conservative, Brent) said: “Bearing in mind the pressures that our high streets are under (the impact of the internet, government policies and the general difficulty of the economy at the moment), to take this time now to suddenly introduce extra charges on some of our vulnerable town centres seems to me to be wrong.
“If we ignore the data, I wonder what the process was about in the first place.”
Councillor Dave Mansell (Green, Upper Tone) said that high streets were already suffering from “unfair competition” from out-of-town retail parks, which generally benefit from free parking for a set period of time.”
Councillor John Cook-Woodman (Conservative, Highbridge and Burnham South) added: “The people of Somerset have clearly said ‘no’, and they will see this as an anti-motorist attack by a cash-hungry council.”
After around an hour’s debate, the committee voted to recommend that Sunday charges should not be implemented.
The proposals will be debated further by the council’s executive committee on December 3, and will come before the full council for final approval on December 17.
