Agenda and minutes

Setting the scene for the evening.

The Chairman, Councillor Ricky Rogers welcomed everyone to the special meeting of the Salisbury Area Board to solely look at Car Parking and invited the members of the Board who were sat amongst the attendees to introduce themselves.

Apologies for absence had been received from:

·       Cllr Brian Dalton

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were none.

A quick quiz about car parking.

A short car parking quiz then took place, people were asked to vote using the handsets.

Working in groups to discuss ideas, concerns and questions to feed into the Car Parking Consultation.

People were asked to discuss in groups the following questions:

1.     Set out some priorities for car parking in Salisbury.

2.     What concerns were there with the current parking situation in Salisbury?

3.     Suggested solutions.

4.     Were there any implications to your ideas?

5.     What could the community do?

Feedback from each group identifying key ideas, concerns and questions.

Following roundtable discussions, a member from each group fed back the main points, these included:

·       Introduce cheaper charges for short term parking, maybe £1 for first hour, £2 for two hours.

·       Increase the charges in other towns and reduce the rate in Salisbury to bring it in line with the rest of the county.

·       Close the Petersfinger Park & Ride (P&R).

·       Freeze the maximum rate at £7.90 for 8 hours.

·       Increase the use of P&R, introduce late evening running times and include more stops.

·       Charge concessionary bus pass holders for using the P&R.

·       Concern relating to the air quality in the city centre.

·       Local people were creating more CO2 by travelling out of town.

·       Outlying car parks could have cheaper rates.

·       Encourage people to come to Salisbury by other means.

·       If free parking for the first hour was introduced, there were concerns that this could encourage people to park for an hour, then go and move their car for a second free hour.

·       The report did not look at the surrounding areas to Salisbury. Salisbury has a large catchment area; the surrounding community areas such as Amesbury, Southern Wiltshire and South West Wiltshire have a different demographic and higher car ownership.

·       There would soon be an increase in military personnel returning to Larkhill and Bulford.

·       Introduce pay on exiting car parking systems.

·       Introduce a yearly parking permit which could be purchased in advance.

·       Parking in Southampton and Winchester was cheaper than Salisbury. People go there rather than come to Salisbury.

·       Culver Street car park could be cheaper to attract more use.

·       Do away with short stay restrictions.

·       Introduce 50p an hour parking to reduce the impact on residents parking.

·       Salisbury charges were too high at present.

·       Everyone should pay the same across Wiltshire.

·       Downton Park & Ride at Britford should incorporate a stop at Salisbury District Hospital.

·       Parking could be free from 3 or 4pm.

·       There could be a free day once a week.

·       Salisbury charges were too high at present.

·       Blue badge bays should be closed to the shops or amenities but should be chargeable.

·       Car parks should be handed over to parishes for local control.

·       The first hour rate was too high.

·       Why does Park & Ride close on Sundays?

·       Culver Street car park should be free all of the time as there was a history of this car park never being well used.

·       The Consultation document was not friendly and contained errors.

·       Ask the people of Wiltshire if they would like free parking funded by an increase in Council Tax.

·       Local businesses had suffered due to the increase in parking charges since 2009.

·       Trowbridge was not good at managing car parks.

·       Introduce a coach parking lay down fee on Maltings car park.

·       Increase short term car parking within the city.

·       Salisbury was losing retail footfall due to high car parking charges.

·       Different charges for different car parks, the underused ones should be cheaper to increase use.

·       Promote green alternatives, car share, walking or cycling.

·       A priority  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Please complete the survey:

http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal/ltp/car_parking_review/car_parking_review_2014/car_parking_review_salisbury

Closing date: 19 January 2015

The date of the next meeting is Thursday 8 January 2015, 7pm at City Hall, Salisbury.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending the special Area Bard meeting to discuss Car Parking for Salisbury. All of the comments received tonight would be collated and discussed by the Board members who would then produce a statement on behalf of the Salisbury Area Board and submit it to the consultation.