Councillors have agreed to the drawing up of a new Car Parking Strategy for Staines which will aim make them more user-friendly for motorists and achieve better returns on Council Taxpayers money.
The Executive, meeting on Tuesday, November 6th, agreed to spend £25,000 on the immediate provision of new signs for the car parks in and around the town centre and instructed officers to prepare a comprehensive Car Parks Strategy by March next year. The programme will include a phased programme of signage, lighting, equipment and other essential improvements.
The Strategy would also include:
- The re-designation of the Bridge Street Car Park as short-term and the Tothill Multi storey as long term
-
Improvements to the Elmsleigh surface, Elmsleigh and Tothill Multi-storey car parks by making them "pay on exit" car parks
-
Consideration of increasing car parking charges each year and the introduction of charging on Sundays - having careful regard for the level of charges in surrounding towns.
-
The continuation of discussions with Surrey County Council on decriminalised car parking, which could have a significant impact on town centre parking
The improvement plan for the car parks originates from a Best Value Review which identified that the town centre car parks are substantially under utilised, operate at a deficit and achieve low satisfaction rating with users.
However, Members and Officers are confident that with the recent completion of multi-million pound projects such as Memorial Gardens, Staines Community Centre and the High Street Pedestrianisation scheme that the car parks will begin to start filling up again - and that the new Car Parking Strategy could bolster that success.
The Council's Portfolio Holder for Environment and Planning, Councillor Gerald Forsbrey, says:
"It is clear from the Best Value Review that our car parks need significant improvements if we want to get full value for money for our residents. The preparation of a comprehensive Car Parking Strategy will enable us to look carefully at all the alternatives.
"We have a brand new town centre which is bringing in more and more people every week so we need to ensure that customers can find their way easily to our car parks and when they get there they have modern facilities and easy pay facilities which will encourage them to come back."
For further information contact
Councillor Gerald Forsbrey on (01784) 241594,
Chief Executive, Karen Satterford on (01784) 446250,
Assistant Chief Executive, Sue Sturgeon on (01784) 446324,
or PR & Communications Officer, Adrian Creek, on (01784) 446297.
