Greenham council calls for two-hour free parking in town centre

Proposals to charge motorists to park in a number of streets close to Newbury Town Centre, in which parking is currently free, were put forward by the district council earlier this year, however have since received a number of objections, including a petition carrying 1,700 signatures carried out by Liberal Democrat councillors.
Newbury Town Council last week lodged a number of concerns over the scheme, and Greenham Parish Council has now submitted a similar response.
Chairman Tony Forward said: “They have not given a coherent justification for it.
“There’s no justification to charge, it will put people off coming here.”
Chris Austin added: “We ought to be making it as easy as possible for people to come in and use the shops and businesses.
“The detrimental effect on the smaller shops and businesses will have a knock-on effect because there will be more empty shops in the town.”
Councillors agreed that the proposed free parking limit of 30-minutes, as currently proposed, was inadequate and should be extended to two hours to encourage people to visit the town for shopping, while still discouraging people from parking all day.
The council put forward concerns that the charges could cause people to shop in neighbouring town centres, including Reading and Basingstoke, and could prompt drivers to park on non-chargeable roads further from the town centre.
Councillors were also against the pay-by-phone only scheme.
The public consultation into the on-street parking scheme has now closed, and the results are expected to be published in October.