What do local people think of the new 30 minutes of free parking?

In its weekly voxpop, the Advertiser heard people’s opinions on the free 30-minute parking being introduced early next week. From Tuesday (April 8), Newark and Sherwood District Council is introducing the new free parking period at three of its car parks — Town Wharf, Appletongate and London Road/Baldertongate. The council hopes that the free parking will encourage residents to visit the town and promote its businesses, but the majority of the people we spoke to agreed that 30 minutes wasn’t long enough.

Louise Francis said: “Sometimes it is annoying if you just want to nip to town, right now I just went to pick up my glasses so I think it can be beneficial if it is free and you just want to run somewhere. “Ideally it would be an hour, but it is better than nothing.” With the new scheme, a ticket will still need to be displayed even for the free period, otherwise motorists may receive a penalty charge notice.



The £1 evening rate will also remain at these carparks. Another resident, Vivian Holland, shared her concerns for elderly and disabled people who would have to park and then walk to the town centre and most likely exhaust their 30 minutes of free parking. Chris Curson said: “I think it is a good idea, town centres are struggling and if you can give people a little incentive to come to town then it is good.

” Resident Roy Haynes believes that the parking should be free the whole day, but agreed that 30 minutes would be beneficial. He added: “The council is taking the money for the car parks instead of the shoppers taking the money for the shops because everybody goes online and can’t be bothered paying for parking.” Visitors to the town from Retford, Graham and Jane Collins, said that even though they come to the town centre by bus, the new parking rules are good for people who are coming to pick up or drop something.

With the new parking scheme the council is hoping people get the chance to visit their favourite independent retailer or market trader or to pick up lunch from one of the town centre’s take-away cafes. Roy Allen said: “Half an hour won’t help promote independent shops but possibly anything longer would do. “The other day in the market I saw so many people and more variety of stalls and a band on and if they make parking longer maybe the town will go back to be what it used to be.

” The overall opinion was that one hour would be the ideal time to help promote the town centre as half an hour can quickly go by if people need to walk to places or wait in queues. Couple Trevor and Wendy Johnson, travel from Grantham to Newark often to go shopping, however, they agreed that it would be more encouraging to shop if parking was free for longer. Pearl Holmes said: “I think free parking might bring some more people into Newark which is what we need, we also need some more shops.

” Lee Dye said: “ (...

) Having heard all these different opinions and reasons why the 30-minute free parking is or isn’t beneficial, we ask you — what is your opinion about this new scheme? Let us know in the comments below...

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