If the council really cared about retailers, it would allow people to park for free (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)
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Retailers in St Albans need help not pot plants
12:03pm Tuesday 21st September 2010 in Columnists
APPARENTLY St Albans is one of the best cities in the UK for preserving independent retailers.
I know – when I read the above line I burst out laughing too.
Sadly, the reality is no laughing matter.
No doubt the authors of the press release which made the bold claim have never ventured up to the top end of St Peters Street or Catherine Street.
And members of the New Economic Foundation probably did not attend last Wednesday’s meeting where St Albans district councillors discussed how to halt the desperate slide of so many wonderful establishments.
It is clear that shoppers no longer feel the need to wander up to the top of St Peters Street or Catherine Street and, as a result, this particular area of St Albans has been hit hard.
The key word in the sentence above is “wander”.
You see, for all of the council’s waffle about going green and cutting emissions in the city centre, stopping people from parking their cars for free in such streets will send them to out-of-town supermarkets.
City centre parking in St Albans is over-priced and the main car parks are over-subscribed.
Meanwhile private landlords have refused to drop their rates, making the position for a number of treasured retailers untenable.
Unfortunately nothing can be done about that but there must be a way of attracting more shoppers.
If you want to go to St Peters Street or Catherine Street – where would you park? Drovers Way if you are lucky. Or by the Alban Arena, but – as has been clearly highlighted by the drop in footfall in this area – people just cannot be bothered to walk.
Shoppers want easy parking. They can get it at Waitrose, Sainsbury’s or Morrisons and when shopping with children, prams and pushchairs, who can blame them for demanding such a luxury?
Unfortunately the district council seems obsessed with paving slabs, road changes and parking charge hikes and has been labelled a “car-hating” authority by some of our readers. Harsh? Maybe, but when you look at the facts, it is hard not to see their point.
The council is correct to investigate how to cut emissions in areas like Holywell Hill but stopping people from parking in St Peters Street and other similar roads will simply hit the pockets of much-loved and treasured independent retailers.
I am certain that if the district council offered motorists an olive branch and brought back the one-hour free parking system in certain roads, we would all see a marked improvement. And what about bringing back that service road so that people can be dropped off without the driver fearing punishment from the Traffic Gestapo?
My concern is the district council will see a quick tidy up of the area as enough to buck the trend, but re-introducing the service road would do far more.
Traders do not need pot plants or a more aesthetically pleasing street – they need more customers.
And if they will only come in their cars the district council has got a decision to make. The sooner the better…
Comments(4)
FatBob
says...
11:31am Wed 22 Sep 10
Slight flaw in your economic theory Mr
Buhagiar, which is why you work for a newspaper and not the Treasury.
If the car parks are full, the punters who use them are clearly prepared to pay the going rate, even it's allegedly too much. You didn't give any local comparables i.e. WGC, Hemel, Watford.
Another small correction - landlords charge rents, its the government what sets the Uniform Business Rate and the local council collects it. Many local landlords have given their tenants a rent 'holiday' or temporary discount to survive the recession.
Have you considered the possibility that St Albans is over-shopped and those traders in the less favourable locations - other than charity shops and market stalls - will probably fail?
fight rates
says...
2:29pm Wed 22 Sep 10
busbee
says...
4:47pm Thu 23 Sep 10
Firstly, the Council has done nothing to favour bus or cycle use over cars. The ‘scheme’ in St Peter’s Street discriminates against all users. Worst affected are probably cyclists, as the road used to be wide enough to enable a cyclist to be overtaken safely, but now it certainly isn’t. Incidentally he is certainly right about the use of one of the service roads as a taxi rank; you don’t need that many taxis in a rank, provided you make provision elsewhere to accommodate ’over-ranking’, which the Council has failed to do - hence the drivers’ strike on 19/8/10.
Secondly, I’d like to point out that the top end of the street on the Eastern side is not a retail street but an office area. It contains the HQ of the NPA, and further down several bank branches, one of which is now redundant because of the takeover by Santander of RBS. There two eating establishments, a drop-in centre and two small shops, but they are more ancillary to the offices than high street destinations in their own right.
I don’t think this office HQ and the banks really need a 10 metre wide pavement, which is what the Council has provided. However I’m not sure that the Council would welcome suggestions, as it would mean admitting that it’s mis-spent the funds provided by central government to ‘upgrade’ the area.
Vanessa says...
1:00pm Tue 21 Sep 10
The “pedestrian environment review system” (PERS) as found in CABE’s publication “Paved with gold” is not just another fancy named piece of useless jargon, but really is a reliable tool to use to help assess what can be done with the physical environment to improve footfall.
I can remember when the service road was full of cars; it used to irritate the hell out of me, as I wanted to wonder in the shops not worry about getting run over by those who couldn’t be bothered to walk a few yards.
I do agree car parking prices are too high and they are discouraging people going into town, include me.
I found some of the apathetic comments in last weeks council debate very dispiriting indeed. Complacency reined supreme.
One only has to look at how many commented on your recent article and of course your highly successful ‘Retailer of the year’ awards, to see just how many thankfully do care about our city centre.