Wiltshire Council announced car parking charges would be reintroduced in all their car parks across the county from Monday 1st June 2020.
Writing on behalf of the businesses of Salisbury, Salisbury BID's letter to Cllr Wayman (Cabinet Member of Highways, Transport and Waste) outlines our concerns that the reintroduction of car parking charges will undermine recovery plans for the city.
Whilst we appreciate Wiltshire Council’s budget has been significantly impacted due to the coronavirus pandemic, and that the reintroduction of charges was inevitable, we feel this reintroduction is far too early. In the short term this may provide some revenue to the Council, however it will undermine recovery plans for Salisbury.
Keith Hanson, Chair of Salisbury BID, said: “On behalf of Salisbury city centre businesses, I’ve written a letter to Cllr Wayman outlining our concerns regarding the decision to reintroduce parking charges. The BID Board strongly felt that this reintroduction is far too early and will undermine recovery plans for Salisbury.
“Non-essential retail can start to reopen from 15th June, however we’ve been approached by a number of levy payers who have said that this reintroduction of parking charge has caused them to lose confidence in reopening their business.
“With the exception of Brown Street car park, Salisbury city centre car parks do not have contactless pay machines, and therefore in the letter we’ve asked what measures Wiltshire Council has put in place to ensure pay machines are kept clean.
“We’ve also encouraged Wiltshire Council to consider free or reduced parking permits for local residents to compliment the BID’s efforts to champion local shopping.
“When Salisbury BID was successfully renewed in 2019, we stated in our business plan that we will represent and champion business needs in local matters. We said we would give the business community a stronger voice to influence local decision making. That’s exactly what we’re doing by writing to Cllr Wayman.”
In partnership with VisitWiltshire, Salisbury BID co-fund the Visit Salisbury website to promote the city to visitors. The Visit Salisbury website has a full events calendar for Salisbury.
