Bradford parking cost ‘one of lowest in country’ (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
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Bradford parking cost ‘one of lowest in country’
8:00am Friday 29th June 2012 in News By Steve Wright, Crime Reporter
The Crown Court car park in Bradford city centre
Parking charges in Bradford city centre are among the cheapest in the country, it has been claimed.
The claim was made during a debate over whether free parking periods should be offered to tempt shoppers into the city.
Bradford Council officers have been monitoring driver use since the introduction of 200 extra pay and display parking bays in the city centre, most of which had previously been for free limited waiting.
Environment and sport director Ian Bairstow told councillors at an environment and waste management committee meeting last night that the demand for the parking spaces had not decreased since the new pay and display bays were introduced.
Drivers can now stay for two hours and pay 70p for the first hour and £1.40 for up to two hours.
Bradford Chamber of Trade has called for free on street parking to bring more shoppers into the city, and Council officers were asked to look at the possibility of offering a short period of free parking.
But they have warned there could be a potential loss of £90,000 a year if a 20-minute free parking period was brought in.
Warden patrols would have to be doubled to monitor usage, or pay and display machines would have to be reprogrammed to issue free tickets.
Paul Ratcliffe, parking services co-ordinator, told the meeting: “There are more vehicles parking in the city centre than there were before we introduced the charges.
“We are the cheapest local authority in the area, and the cheapest bar one for the whole of the country for a city of this size (for parking charges), substantially cheaper than Leeds, Halifax and Kirklees.”
Councillor Michael McCabe (Conservative, Thornton and Allerton) said the cost to the Council of free parking would be offset by more people coming in and spending their money, rather than in Halifax, and suggested there could be an hour’s free parking on a Saturday.
The committee agreed to recommend to the Council Executive that the use of the new pay and display areas be reviewed annually – and asked it to consider the option of having one hour’s free parking on a Saturday.
Comments(24)
Thee Voice of Reason
says...
8:19am Fri 29 Jun 12
All for an amount of money comparable to what you'd spend on a foreign cricket team or staff trips to Dubai.
If you want to save more than 90k you could get rid of that useless executive to of set the loss.
webess
says...
8:24am Fri 29 Jun 12
Parking on a meter may well be listed as 70p per hour. But machines don't give change so it's £1 per hour in most cases. Wonder how much cash council make by holding back change?
Thee Voice of Reason
says...
8:42am Fri 29 Jun 12
bhuna156
says...
8:44am Fri 29 Jun 12
Thee Voice of Reason
says...
9:11am Fri 29 Jun 12
Why is it the council are blind to this?
Prisoner Cell Block A
says...
9:29am Fri 29 Jun 12
yorkshiredude
says...
10:00am Fri 29 Jun 12
Clowny
says...
10:18am Fri 29 Jun 12
webess wrote:Good points.
Parking charges in Bradford may well be one of the cheapest in the country - but state of city centre suggests they're still way too high.
Parking on a meter may well be listed as 70p per hour. But machines don't give change so it's £1 per hour in most cases. Wonder how much cash council make by holding back change?
Clowny
says...
10:18am Fri 29 Jun 12
Thee Voice of Reason wrote:More good points.
Keep killing the city you clueless idiots.
All for an amount of money comparable to what you'd spend on a foreign cricket team or staff trips to Dubai.
If you want to save more than 90k you could get rid of that useless executive to of set the loss.
yezboss
says...
10:59am Fri 29 Jun 12
ra1nyn1ght
says...
11:07am Fri 29 Jun 12
MontyLeMar
says...
11:22am Fri 29 Jun 12
The difference between Leeds, Halifax and Kirklees and Bradford is that Kirklees, Halifax and Leeds are pricing to dissuade drivers from coming into a congested centre whereas Bradford has an empty centre and should be doing all it can to attract drivers and shoppers. And 20 minutes free is no good. Shoppers want at least 2 hours. I realise it is a gamble on the council's part but if the city centre shops don't get more customers soon they will be going under and business rates will shrink. I'm afraid it's a no-brainer at this point in time. We need more city centre shoppers, end of argument
a reasonable sort of chap
says...
12:03pm Fri 29 Jun 12
THE BUILDINGS BEING DEMOLISHED IN GOITSIDE ARE NOT KNOWN AS 'DEATH ROW'.
'DEATH ROW' IS IN LOWER MANNINGHAM!
a reasonable sort of chap
says...
12:04pm Fri 29 Jun 12
aphandargus.co.uk/ne
ws/9789095.The_end_a
t_last_for_city_s__d
eath_row_/
citizen smith
says...
1:35pm Fri 29 Jun 12
parki114
says...
1:56pm Fri 29 Jun 12
parki114
says...
1:57pm Fri 29 Jun 12
Clowny
says...
3:45pm Fri 29 Jun 12
parki114 wrote:The cost argument is also misleading as many cities have plenty of private car parks that are very cheap to park all day long, I don't think the comparison here has been done including privare car parks.
Cost is only part of the discussion. Try find a space where you can stay for more than one hour. I recently decided to take my wife for lunch in the City centre to see the new City Park. There were plenty of spaces free but all limited to 1 hour. Not much use for leisurely shopping and certainly useless for a leisurely lunch. I wont be attempting going into the centre again.
Yorkshire Lass
says...
4:18pm Fri 29 Jun 12
ra1nyn1ght wrote:Guess who will be paying for that!
The protesters at Occupy Westfield are due for a Court Hearing on Tuesday (3rd July 2012) morning at Bradford County Court, 10.00am - they have secured (pro bono) the services of Alex Durance (a leading barrister who regularly features in the Legal 500) with specialist experience in defending possession proceedings to represent them. He works from Doughty Street Chambers in London, an award winning set of Chambers renowned throughout the country for social welfare and housing cases, administrative law and human rights work, they too regularly feature in the Legal 500 and with the likes of Lady Kennedy QC and Edward Fitzgerald CBE QC at the helm, they are a force to be reckoned with! If you are local, please attend and show your support outside the County Court
Newswatcher
says...
11:15am Sat 30 Jun 12
If the city had anything to offer people would pay.
Bradford is run down and unattractive.
I live 3 miles from the city centre but can think of no good reason to visit.
Unfortunatly the solution to every problem both local and national seems to be take more money from the people but it doesn't work.
allinittogether
says...
4:29pm Sat 30 Jun 12
Yorkshire Lass wrote:Pro bono means "for the public good" and will probably be free of charge.
ra1nyn1ght wrote:Guess who will be paying for that!
The protesters at Occupy Westfield are due for a Court Hearing on Tuesday (3rd July 2012) morning at Bradford County Court, 10.00am - they have secured (pro bono) the services of Alex Durance (a leading barrister who regularly features in the Legal 500) with specialist experience in defending possession proceedings to represent them. He works from Doughty Street Chambers in London, an award winning set of Chambers renowned throughout the country for social welfare and housing cases, administrative law and human rights work, they too regularly feature in the Legal 500 and with the likes of Lady Kennedy QC and Edward Fitzgerald CBE QC at the helm, they are a force to be reckoned with! If you are local, please attend and show your support outside the County Court
webess
says...
6:30pm Sat 30 Jun 12
allinittogether wrote:Will the judge and the rest of the court be working pro bozo too?
Yorkshire Lass wrote:Pro bono means "for the public good" and will probably be free of charge.
ra1nyn1ght wrote:Guess who will be paying for that!
The protesters at Occupy Westfield are due for a Court Hearing on Tuesday (3rd July 2012) morning at Bradford County Court, 10.00am - they have secured (pro bono) the services of Alex Durance (a leading barrister who regularly features in the Legal 500) with specialist experience in defending possession proceedings to represent them. He works from Doughty Street Chambers in London, an award winning set of Chambers renowned throughout the country for social welfare and housing cases, administrative law and human rights work, they too regularly feature in the Legal 500 and with the likes of Lady Kennedy QC and Edward Fitzgerald CBE QC at the helm, they are a force to be reckoned with! If you are local, please attend and show your support outside the County Court
Willard
says...
9:32am Sun 1 Jul 12
Thee Voice of Reason says...
8:19am Fri 29 Jun 12
All for an amount of money comparable to what you'd spend on a foreign cricket team or staff trips to Dubai.
If you want to save more than 90k you could get rid of that useless executive to of set the loss.