Sonia Kumar's parliamentary debate on town- centre car parking
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00:00Order, order. Sonia Kumar to move the motion.
00:04I beg to move that the House is consider parking in our town centres. Thank you, Ms Burness.
00:11It's a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. I stand here to voice concerns about increased
00:17parking fees. Local authorities are trying to claw back their way out of financial difficulties
00:24by making decisions to increase parking fees across the country.
00:29In my constituency, Dudley Council have implemented these changes, which have been subject to
00:34much debate. Our high streets and ledge centres are the heart of our communities. They provide
00:42the social and economic value for residents in Dudley and across the UK. But in the recent
00:48years, we have seen too many thriving high streets fail. This is why successive governments
00:56have attempted to reverse this trend. Grant funding for high streets improvements, business
01:01improvement districts, empty stock strategies, business rate relief, and the list goes on.
01:08Many of these measures were only required because of mistakes in development policy
01:11over several years. Previous governments have attempted to reverse this trend, but mistakes
01:17have been made in developing policy over the last 14 years. We've seen council budget eroded,
01:25we've seen councils make impossible decisions, and on reflection, the level of funding proposed
01:31by the previous government seems contradictory in hindsight. But ultimately, this has meant
01:37local people are the ones that are suffering. Luckily, many councils learnt from these mistakes
01:43and have proactively avoided developments that undermine the viability of high streets.
01:49The rise in internet shopping has continued to drive shoppers from our historic towns,
01:55and long-standing traders in Dudley have suffered.
01:58The hon. Member for Dunbar-le-Duncan
02:00This is an incredibly important issue for my constituency and I know for everyone who's
02:08here as well. But the footfall is the lifeblood of the local high street, and there is a need
02:13to get the balance between car parking and accessibility. My council have implemented
02:19discounts for five-hour parking and are considering discounts for two- to three-hour parking to
02:24allow people to spend more time and money in a reasonable timeframe. Does the hon. Member
02:28for Dunbar-le-Duncan agree that if that was done in my council of Ards and North Down
02:32and across the United Kingdom, that would help the footfall and help the town centres
02:37and the high streets?
02:38I agree with my hon. Friend. I agree that if we had parking charges that were extended
02:51and not just for an hour, people who want to get a coffee wouldn't have to be charged
02:55for one-hour parking of ┬г1.80, which is what's been implemented in my constituency. Instead,
03:01they will not have to just get their coffee and then pay for the parking charges. They
03:06can actually just spend a longer amount of time and increase the footfall.
03:09I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley for securing today's important debate
03:14on parking in town centres, because the recent decision by Conservative Lib Dem-controlled
03:19Sloughborough Council to foist controlled parking zones across the town rather than
03:24just in the town centre has left many of my residents feeling completely sidelined and
03:29angry because their views in the consultations have been ignored. Does my hon. Friend agree
03:36that whilst parking measures are very much needed, it is important to respect the views
03:43of residents rather than these excessive cash-cow schemes?
03:47No, I agree with this 100%. Parking charges have become a cash-cow, and I really respect
03:56the opinions that you've had. This is why I think it's absolutely absurd that councils
04:00across the country have implemented it, like Dudley County Council. This is why I think
04:06really we need to be thinking about the town centres and how we can drive footfall and
04:10not reduce footfall. I feel like we're robbing Peter so Paul could cut a ribbon. Clearly,
04:19there's a fair balance to be struck between generating a revenue through parking charges
04:22and ensuring the vibrancy and accessibility of town centres, but too many authorities
04:28are not getting that balance right.
04:30On that point of order, does my hon. Friend agree?
04:32Of course.
04:33Thank you, and thanks to my hon. Friend from Dudley for securing this debate. In Northumberland
04:38Heath Ward in my constituency, Councillors Baljeet Gill and Wendy Perfect have been working
04:42tirelessly to support local traders who'd like to introduce free parking for a very
04:46short period for that small range of independent shops in Northumberland Heath. Does my hon.
04:51Friend agree that councils should investigate measures to reduce and also look at those
04:57shorter free parking arrangements in order, as she said, to support the viability of those
05:05small independent traders?
05:06Yes, they do, and I think my trader and long-standing trader in the constituency, Christine Bosworth,
05:15would agree with you. She's been operating for the last 13 years in the craft shop and
05:20she shared with me some really poignant points that I'd like to share with this Chamber today.
05:27Christine said that actually there's been a really wide drop of footfall in the constituency
05:33and in the town centre, and it's eye-opening that there's a lack of now accessibility to
05:39the town centre and it's unusable and too expensive. While cheaper options are too far
05:43for elderly people and disabled visitors to get to the town centre, traders are tied into
05:48long leases and face amounted pressures to ensure that they can come to the town centre
05:57and ensure that people can actually access it. These changes and implementations are
06:03without proper consultation, which further risks eroding the vibrancy of our historic
06:09town centre. Bruno Coppiono, the manager of the church and shopping centre in Dudley,
06:14has shared concerns with me about the impact that these charges have on local businesses.
06:19Many traders have been having challenges for many years, including with COVID-19.
06:28Thank you. In the borough of Redbridge, for which I was the leader of the council for
06:32the last 10 years, we brought in one hour free parking and what that did was it actually
06:39increased the footfall, it increased the churn of cars leaving, it brought the shopping back
06:46to local people for local shops and of course it created more business rates because our
06:54local shopping centres are absolutely thriving. Would my honourable friend agree that there
07:00is more than one way to make money and sometimes you just have to be a little bit more imaginative
07:07and give the local people what they want by giving them free parking and they will spend
07:12their money locally. That's actually one of the proposals that I have put forward to
07:19the leader of the council, is actually having an hour free parking. As I suggested, if somebody
07:24wants to catch a coffee in the town centre, you don't want to pay for a parking charge
07:30and then get your coffee and then leave. This is only driving business out. So, as I spoke
07:37to Bruno and a number of traders around the town centre, he said to me that actually it's
07:43not just this town centre in particular, it's across many other, across the country and the
07:51additional problem with my town centre is that we're already getting construction because of
07:54the construction work around the transport area with the ongoing bus service, the tram line and
08:01customers are now forced to use their cars. Thank you. I'd like to thank the honourable member for
08:09Dudley for securing this very important debate. Parking is of course a problem that doesn't
08:14exist in isolation. As you were just touching upon there, it is also about linked to public
08:18transport. In many areas, including mine in Gravesham, has a large rural network but of
08:24course that network isn't served by buses, hence why people are forced into their cars. Does the
08:29honourable member agree with me that we need to be working with our local authorities to improve
08:33the rural infrastructure and thereby leaving issues including parking in our town centres?
08:38I agree with my honourable friend as accessibility to town centre is actually really quite difficult.
08:46We don't have a tram system, we don't have any local trains, we only have a bus service and that
08:51can be ad hoc at times. So, I welcome actually the new bus consultation period that Richard Parker,
08:59a Labour mayor, has now put forward. So, this time is not the rise of parking charges with access,
09:05as you said before. Parking remains a critical lifeline for many high streets, especially for
09:10those with low income in Dudley. Rising parking charges is pushing customers away from Dudley
09:15town centre and into outer town retail parks like Maryhill, which has free parking and encouraging
09:22them to shop online. It's crucial we consider the long-term impact of these charges for traders,
09:29local SMEs, who are the backbone of the economy. On a recent walk around in Dudley town centre,
09:35I counted up to 35 empty shops. A staggering amount of these shops have been struggling
09:41due to the austerity measures, the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.
09:49Thank you. I thank the honourable member for Dudley for securing this debate. In my constituency
09:56in eastern Rochford, one of the main market towns outside of the constituency, which is Rochford,
10:03we have an issue with regards to, let's just say, it's not the most friendliest of parking.
10:09What we have is people who visit the local library for library services, but also people who
10:17want to apply for blue badges as well. They use the library for this. What we've had is
10:23very sort of like, you know, quite opportune sort of like parking enforcement and the fees,
10:28what people are paying is astronomical and the local community is being sort of caught out by
10:33this. People have mentioned how important it is with regards to the community and how we can sort
10:38of get our town centres back. So what I would say is I've been talking to the British Parking
10:43Association so that when we have these contractors managing our local assets, they need to be seen
10:49to be doing more to support the community. The community needs to be visiting their local high
10:54streets, regenerating their local community. So will the honourable lady agree with me that it's
11:01really important that we need to see these contractors do more to help our communities
11:07reimagine themselves? I agree with my honourable friend, but actually the contractors need to be
11:14looking about how what we're doing on the town centres and actually where that money is going
11:18back in and back into the economy and back into local businesses and residents. So I agree with
11:25my honourable friend. I think the future of high streets lies on the ability to adapt and offer a
11:30range of experiences that draw people in, not just through retail but through leisure, community
11:35activities such as health on the high streets and accessibility of services. I ask my council to
11:41reconsider their approach to parking charges. It's important that we strike the right balance
11:47to allow for continuity of access and the vibrancy of towns which underpin our businesses
11:55that are around the area. In Dudley, the proposed increase in parking charges does not just
12:00hurt traders but also local residents who rely on car access due to the lack of alternative
12:06transport options. For instance, students from low-income backgrounds who rely on the cars to
12:13get into the learning development centre who will be forced to reconsider studies if the cost
12:18of parking becomes too burdensome. These are students who want to upskill and contribute
12:23to the local economy, yet they face the prospect of being priced out because of the parking
12:29charges to access their education. In addition, the students and local residents who visit the
12:35leisure centre for their health and well-being will also feel the pinch. Many face the many
12:41user facilities regularly and I spoke to an 80 year old member using the leisure centre who said
12:47this was a vital lifeline for socialising and community connection. The proposed charges would
12:53essentially double the cost of membership for every daily user impacting the very fabric of
12:58our community. The parking charges, if to continue, should be reinvested into the community and
13:04businesses alike, providing a sustainable model for traders where businesses and residents reap
13:10the benefits. Depending on the size of a town and what their solutions have, each town will need
13:18its own unique solution, but the implementation of the solutions must be relative to the scale of
13:23the problem to each town and the voice of the community should be at the heart of all decisions.
13:29A thorough consultation should be conducted prior to the implementation of any charges
13:33being made in a town centre. So let us let us treat car parking not as a peripheral issue
13:40but an integral component of a broader strategy for future town planning
13:44and revitalising our town centres.
13:53The question is that this house has considered the matter of parking in town centres.
13:58I call Kirith Entwistle.
14:01Thank you, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairship. I thank my honourable friend the
14:08Member for Dudley for tabling such an important debate on a topic that affects us all in so many
14:14different ways in daily aspects of our lives. I declare an interest as a member of the Women and
14:20Equalities Select Committee and want to touch on a slightly different aspect of this issue
14:26in terms of accessibility and providing access to public spaces. As a long-time advocate for
14:33working families this debate is personal for me. Across Britain from Dudley to Sheffield to my own
14:39hometown of Bolton we face a troubling problem. We are building more flats, more homes and
14:45encouraging people to move without building the parking that is so desperately needed alongside it.
14:51Ms Furness, we are building family homes in town centres like mine in Bolton but we are failing to
14:57provide the family-friendly infrastructure that parents desperately need alongside it.
15:02Parking in town centres, as mentioned, is a prime example. Shopping centres, workplaces, even
15:08hospitals, they all fall short of providing sufficient parent and child parking spaces
15:14with wider bays and convenient short walks to entrances. The problem is threefold. Parent and
15:20child spaces are too few, enforcement is lax and unclear regulations harm those who need them most.
15:27At my local supermarket the scene is all too familiar. The few parent and child spaces are
15:32taken by large vans or two-door convertibles, vehicles with no sign of families in tow.
15:38The result? Parents like me trying to load a toddler into a car seat in a standard space
15:44face an almost impossible task without bumping the car next door. The solution isn't complex.
15:50We need to design, as my Honourable Friend mentioned, town centres with public in mind.
15:57Starting with public parking, let us expand family-friendly spaces and curb rule breaking
16:02by enforcing the strict regulations used to safeguard blue badge holders. Once public
16:07spaces set the standard, private car parks will follow. Even worse, town centre parking
16:13completely overlooks pregnant women. Imagine being eight or nine months pregnant, swollen feet,
16:18aching back, every step a marathon, yet for parent and child parking at supermarkets,
16:24pregnant women are expected to walk in and queue at customer support to request case-by-case
16:31permission. The irony is glaring. Spaces intended to make life easier are instead
16:36placing an even greater strain on pregnant women. So why is progress on family-friendly
16:42parking moving so slowly? Why are pregnant women still being overlooked? When former Facebook
16:48Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg was working at Google and became pregnant,
16:52the company's car park lacked any spaces for pregnant women. Drawing on her lived experience,
16:58she raised the issue with Google's male co-founders, and the policy was changed soon after.
17:03The problem? Google's male leadership had never even considered the needs of pregnant women in
17:09the first place, and that happens all too often. Similarly, in Westminster, it is often left to
17:15women members of Parliament to bring attention to the problems that create daily frustrations
17:19for women. I am confident that the Minister agrees with me that we must move to prioritise
17:24town centre parking for families and pregnant women, and accessibility for all. Beyond that,
17:29I sincerely hope the Minister agrees we must also move towards a Parliament which proactively
17:34addresses these problems, rather than relying on us women to highlight them. Ms Furness,
17:39parking should be accessible for all, and it provides a lifeline to us at our town centres,
17:44and I commend my honourable friend for bringing this issue to the House.
17:50Thank you, Mr Furness. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship this afternoon. I would like
17:55to thank my honourable friend, the Member for Dudley, for securing this important debate and
17:59for the powerful case that she made. It is one of the great joys of being the High Streets and
18:05Town Centre Minister that I get to a number of these debates in this room here, where people
18:09talk about their communities, and it is always interesting to hear about the commonalities and
18:13the differences and the challenges that they are facing. Although I might say, with a degree of
18:17mischief, that it is not often that such debates inspire such a coverage of all the nations and
18:22regions that make up the UK. Again, I think that is a sign that the hon. Lady is not exactly in
18:28the right space. I thank the Minister for giving way. Does he recognise that, as our shopping
18:37habits have changed, so has the need for parking in town centres? In my biggest town of Kirkcaldy,
18:43we are blessed to be right on the coast. We could have beautiful sea views. We could have housing,
18:48workspace and facilities to attract tourists. Instead, we have dilapidated and unused car parks,
18:55which are a true blight on our town centre and on our seafront. I would say to the Minister that
19:00redevelopment funding is badly needed so that our town can fulfil its potential and meet today's
19:06needs of our residents. I think that is a really important challenge. The hon. Member
19:14for Dudley finished on the point about this not being a peripheral issue but as needing to address
19:18broader issues in regards to parking and town centre vibrancy. I think that is exactly what
19:23the hon. Lady is saying in terms of having that more planned approach as to what the future could
19:26look like. No doubt there would need to be support from the Government of the day, and that message
19:31was heard very strongly. I thought that my hon. Friend made an important and similar point to the
19:36one that the hon. Member has just made around the reasons for the decline in our high streets and
19:41town centres. Those obvious changing patterns and behavioursтАФI am sure colleagues would not, but
19:45they could easily order a book in the time in which I am speaking, or quite a few, probablyтАФare
19:50different, and that is not going to go away. We know that times have been very hard for people.
19:55Austerity has been a really difficult period for our communities, and we know that still now people
19:59are struggling with money in their pockets. All of that contributes to challenges, so it behoves
20:04us to try and drive footfall and to use any lever that we have to drive footfall, of which parking,
20:08as the hon. Member said, is really important. We heard in her contribution the voice of her
20:14constituents coming into this room, be they business, long-term residents, students or
20:20leisure centre users. I hope they see that their views are being echoed and expressed
20:26in this place, and that they are being taken seriously. I want to cover some of the points
20:30that the hon. Member said, and I do not want to miss the final contribution from my hon. Friend
20:35either. I have seen the coverage, as others will have done, of the pain and the disappointment
20:41caused by Dudley Council's decision to scrap two hours of free parking and the impact that
20:45that is having on motorists and the disappointment for residents and visitors. I have seen the rally,
20:50and I am sad to hear that, as the hon. Member said, the consultation's sense was that that
20:54was not done properly, because that is an important part of trying to do a process properly, even if
20:59the results can be disappointing. However, the provision of accessible and affordable parking
21:14is particularly important, as has been said, outside of the major metropolitan cities and in
21:18rural communities, where that public transport offer may be limited. People need their cars,
21:22as my hon. Friend the Member for Gravesend said. I give way.
21:24Victoria Collie. One of my major towns, Harpenden, has had a lot of businesses,
21:29like Threads or We, who have said that parking charges are changing and that they are worried.
21:32The Minister mentioned services such as parking and transport. Is it not sad that, after 14 years
21:37of the Conservatives and cuts to local councils, they have been forced to make some of these
21:41difficult decisions? It is now time for us to help empower local authorities to support
21:46businesses on high streets and to invest in our communities to make sure that they thrive.
21:51Yes, I absolutely do. It is at the heart of this Government's approach, and I will go through
21:54very quickly some of the ways at the end. It is at the heart of this Government's approach to give
21:58those communities those tools to change place. Of course, there is a financial aspect to that,
22:02but there is a power sense to that too, about shaping the things that shape your community.
22:07In this, I think debate gets to the heart of this, because parking is one of those, as I say,
22:13major levers that a community has. I think the important point is that it is the community's
22:18lever. Yes, it is held by the local authority, but it is the community's lever. I am going to
22:22make a point about that shortly. Fundamentally, responsibility for parking provision in town
22:28centres rests with the relevant local authority under the Traffic Management Act 2004. The
22:34statutory guidance that accompanied that clearly sets out that parking policies have to be
22:38proportionate and have to support town centre prosperity. It is for those local authorities
22:44to decide on how parking should support that, whether it should be free, whether it should be
22:47tariffed, for how long. Local authorities are best placed to do that, in a sense, through their
22:53local transport plans, through their local insight. They have to find that balance between
22:58residents, between local business, those who live and work in an amenity and, of course,
23:03the access of emergency services. Under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, local authorities
23:10can set their own parking tariffs. In general, I think almost everybody will at some point
23:15set a tariff, certainly in a busy area. Again, they must be proportionate and should not be set
23:21at unreasonable levels. This is an important part that came out in the hon. Member's contribution.
23:28The point of local parking policies is not to be revenue raisers or, indeed, cash cows, as has been
23:35said. The important point, againтАФthis is one for colleagues to have a very discerning eye locally
23:40onтАФis that the point is that how surplus is spent is prescribed in legislation under
23:47section 55 of that 1984 Act. It requires any surplus raised from parking schemes to go back
23:53into local authority-funded transport or environmental schemes, so again back into
23:58communities, as my hon. Friend said. There needs to be a discerning eye that that really is taking
24:02place and, crucially, that communities are having a voice in that. Now, all areasтАФI remember this
24:08myself and other colleagues in the room who have been members of their councilтАФI remember wrestling
24:12with that too in Nottingham about how to create that convection, because you do not want people
24:16to come to a town centre and to park there all day for work, go to and from the office and then
24:22go home again and not contribute to the local economy. You want a turnover, but you want an
24:27incentivisation as well. Colleagues have talked about the effectiveness that a free hour can do
24:31about pulling people through, and again I think there are very good examples of where that has
24:36worked. I think the challenge for me is, and the challenge for local authority colleagues
24:40listening to this debate with interest, is that yes, this is a local authority function,
24:46but local authorities are their community, and it's for all of our local authorities, and I
24:51felt challenged at this when a member of mineтАФand I challenge mine nowтАФto make sure that the
24:55policies that they're doing reflect the wishes, reflect the interests of the local community,
25:00and that they're getting the public into the conversationтАФI will do shortlyтАФthat they're
25:04getting business into that conversation as well, and I was surprised to hear from the Honourable
25:08Member's contributions that clearly local businesses don't feel that's what's happened here.
25:11I give way. I thank my Honourable Friend, and I was grateful to him for visiting Rugby and
25:17having a walk around. One bit of the town that we didn't reach was Elliot's Field, which is an
25:22out-of-town shopping centre, and I wonder if he would agree with me that those out-of-town
25:26shopping centres compete with town centres, not least because they can attract anchor
25:31clients, but also because they can offer free parking. And in the case of Rugby Borough Council,
25:36where I must declare an interest, I'm still a councillor, they are thinking very carefully
25:41about innovative measures that they can take, whether that might be free parking, which was
25:45offered in some car parks in December, or openingтАФrapid decisions on opening one particular
25:50council in a car park when the theatre is showing a production. So I wondered if there's anything
25:56else that central government can do to help them in this difficult balance.
26:01Yeah, I think that's a really important intervention. I wonder if looking back on some of those decisions
26:06on out-of-town retail, whether communities would make the same decision now that they did.
26:10I think what was very clear in the Honourable Gentleman's contribution was that parking is
26:15clearly a driving factor in their success, so the public are telling us to some degree
26:20actually what they want to see, and we really ought to listen to them. The Honourable Lady
26:24talked about broader support, and vacancy particularly. I would encourage colleagues
26:28to support their local authorities in promoting the new high street rental auctions, bringing
26:32those vacant units back into use. Particularly, I would also point to our work around safety in
26:39town centres. Ms Furness, again, if we're driving footfall, people will only come, or come a second
26:45time, if they feel that they are safe. Now, footfall alone promotes community safety because
26:50energy and people being present deters crime and deters antisocial behaviour.
26:54But nevertheless, our commitment around 13,000 more police and police community support officers
26:59will have town centres at their very heart so that there is that visible presence,
27:04and our town centres are places people feel safe to park their car and to shop themselves.
27:09Before I close, I want to address the Honourable Member for Bolton North East's contribution
27:15around parent and child parking bays. There is no current legislative requirement in this space,
27:21and I'm conscious the Honourable Lady has a 10-minute rule bill designed to change this,
27:26but in the interests, as she says, of challenging colleagues, particularly male colleagues,
27:30to come up with solutions, there is a possible workaround solution at this stage using the
27:35current legislative framework, because authorities can make parking provisions for specific road
27:42users, whether they're residents parking, we've had many examples in our own communities,
27:46or blue badge users. Under current rules, it would be feasible for a local authority to make specific
27:51on-street bays permit holder only and include a permanent identifier on that sign. Again,
27:56we would see those in our resident schemes in our communities, but then only issue those
28:00permits to pregnant women or parents with children. And they would have to, of course, justify
28:06reserving those spaces, I think the Honourable Lady probably did that for them, and find a
28:10decent way to publicise where those bays are located. Again, it would be about probably being
28:14in the right place, I would expect. So I think that is something that colleagues can raise with
28:18their local authorities. That is a bit of a workaround, but in the spirit of meeting her
28:22challenge of being solutions focused, that would be one of them. So I thank her for that contribution.
28:28So I will conclude by, again, thanking the Honourable Member for securing this important
28:32debate today. I think she sets out very clearly some of the challenges facing our town centres.
28:39At the heart of it comes footfall, and at the heart of footfall is that lever around
28:44parking facilities that are available and affordable. Local authorities have that
28:50leadership and that responsibility and that stewardship of local transport plans, but
28:54fundamentally that is for the community and that is to be something that reflects the needs of
29:00local residents, of local businesses. Clearly that's not taking place here, and that's why
29:04the Honourable Member has had to take quite a significant step of taking this from
29:08the High Street in Dudley all the way to Parliament, but I think she was right to do so,
29:12and it is hugely important that the community are heard in Dudley, are heard in Kirkcaldy,
29:17are heard in Ilford and in Bolton, and in Southend and all the other places we've heard from
29:22today. It clearly is something that's really important across the country and I'm grateful
29:25for colleagues for raising it. Thank you. The question is that this House has considered the
29:31matter of parking in town centres. As many as are of that opinion say...