At this weeks’ Stone Town Council the council passed a resolution to pick up the cost of car parking on Saturdays at Stafford Borough Council car parks to allow users to park for FREE.
Currently, Stafford Borough Council operates the Crown Street car park (that borders the canal – NOT B&M) as well as the Christchurch Way car park. Stone Town Council approached Stafford Borough Council to ask how much the borough council would charge the town council to allow it to offer the free parking to visitors to the town.
Following negotiations, the town clerk negotiated a one-off charge of £5,000 for the 13 Saturdays from October until December – providing a total of 171 car parking spaces (82 at Christchurch Way and 89 at Crown Street).
The free parking period will run each Saturday from 3rd October to 26th December 2020 and will
apply all day at the Crown Street and Christchurch Way car parks.
Councillor Rob Kenney, Chairman of the Council’s General Purposes Committee said:
“This free parking arrangement, paid for by the Town Council, should help to increase footfall in the town
centre and bring in much needed custom to our local shops, restaurants and other town centre
businesses.”
From the Stone Traders Group, an organised group of Stone Town Centre Business, the chairman Nick Griffin told A Little Bit of Stone:
“Stone Traders Group are delighted Stone Town Council have offered to subsidise free parking in the Town’s two Council car parks until the end of the year. During these exceptionally difficult times for our Town Centre businesses, free parking every Saturday for the remainder of 2020 is a most welcome boost for Traders and visitors to our Town Centre shops, bars, restaurants, beauty salons and more.
Stone Traders Group would like to thank STC for this support and welcome the invitation to be part of the working group recently agreed to further look at ways to increase diminishing footfall to our beautiful Town Centre, the heart of Stone. Never before has our logo ‘Stone is Where the Heart is’ been so relevant.
We hope residents and visitors take advantage of this offering and head into Stone Town Centre, which is a safe and well-managed environment for shopping eating & drinking.”
Adding on behalf of his own business, Griffins of Stone:
“This is fantastic news as it will provide the High street with a much needed boost, unfortunately we have lost a couple of businesses in this pandemic from our lovely high street and lets hope this can help give the local economy a kick start again.
Thank you to Stone town council for arranging and agreeing this with the borough”
Hilary from card, gift and chocolate store Thoughts told A Little Bit of Stone:
“We think it’s great news that Stone Town Council are investing in the free Saturday parking for the remainder of 2020.
In these difficult times, anything that helps get people into the town is most welcome.
We look forward to seeing people taking up the offer and coming to visit us on Stone High Street.”
Rachel from 3B Barbers told A Little Bit of Stone:
“I’m really pleased to see this offer from Stone Town Council to provide free car parking for our customers and visitors to the town.
We’ve worked hard operating under the new Covid guidelines and this offer removes one of the excuses we hear for people not coming into town.
Free parking in Stone on a Saturday – that’s not to be snipped at!”
Tracy Stant of Josie Boutique shared her thoughts:
“This is good news for all our businesses on the High Street, every little helps. Thank you to Stone Town Council for listening to our plea for free parking which will enhance our recovery leading up to Christmas”.
Jayne from Passion Nails and Beauty said of the offer:
“We think it’s fantastic news that our town council are supporting local business and the community’s they serve.
The FREE parking will help to encourage people into the town and help boost our economy in these difficult times.
We are looking forward to seeing our lovely little town buzzing with life again as we all support and look after each other.”
Stone resident Marina gave her feedback on the news:
“We should be pro actively encouraging visitors to our lovely town not just in these challenging times but as part of a longer term strategy.
Free parking is very much welcomed on a Saturday but this should be policy for the rest of the week also with more people returning to work from home again visitors and thus footfall in the town may potentially increase.
The town needs all the support it can get use it or lose it and I for one do not want to be forced into driving to large retail parks Stay safe and well everyone”
Whilst Free Parking has been welcomed from everyone we’ve had a number of people comment that they feel that Stafford Borough Council should have stepped up to offer this across the borough.
Shelagh from Stone telling us:
“In my opinion the free parking is a necessity in Stone, since March COVID restrictions have had a negative effect on our town, and we’re going to have restrictions as the 2nd wave is approaching for the winter months.
With the excess new build housing estates springing up before the infrastructure is in place, the loss of much needed green fields, inadequate play areas, high street council taxes crippling small businesses in the town so the the population is seeking bigger towns and retail parks to shop and the footfall on our high street diminishing…and SBC charging for the few car parks we have, Stone is losing out…
I’ve lived here since the 60’s and seen a diverse, thriving, comprehensive market Town, where you could buy anything without having to go elsewhere to shop, slowly become a ghost town, charity shops, eating places in abundance, prices so high to compensate for the high business rates…SBC are destroying a lovely Canal Market town in Stone to be relegated to the history books. Charging Stone Council for the privilege of a few months free parking for visitors to boost our trade in our town is criminal, and will still result in parking in residential roads, parking in restricted areas, causing traffic problems, stress for residents, and we have to see our Council use our money to have free parking…that is Daylight Robbery!
So in summary Stone Town Council should NOT pay SBC for us or visitors to Stone for parking…SBC should allow Free Parking as a gesture of goodwill to encourage visitors to our beautiful Market Town or lose it…”
We also spoke to a number of groups that operate in around the town to get their input with Martin who’s involved with The Bowls Club and Oulton Village Hall telling us:
“This positive move from the Town Council will provide a useful incentive to encourage people to shop in Stone on a Saturday.
It just seems odd that the Borough who also are also supposed to represent the local populace couldn’t waive the charges themselves. The adage ‘Robbing Peter to pay Paul ‘ comes to mind.”
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1 comment
Jim Davies
Shelagh is spot on regarding the apparent unwillingness of SBC to support fully the Town Council’s free parking initiative. I said as much at the council meeting last Tuesday and, at the end of last year, I reported how in the year 18/19 SBC had benefited from over £120,000 from the car parks in Stone. A nice little earner. Cllr Jim Davies