Ashby de la Zouch Town Council has challenged North West Leicestershire District Council on a number of issues after its car parking survey was issued recently - saying some are a 'significant deterrent' to shoppers.

The council is opposed to many of the proposals which appear to be unfavourable to the town - and have already been described as 'anti-Ashby' by the Civic Society.

A detailed response was made public today (Tuesday) and it is clear that the Town Council has several objections.

It says that parking charge increases - of over 130 per cent in one case - are 'far too high' and would be a 'significant deterrent to shoppers visiting Ashby'.

The council also believes that the proposed changes would only encourage town centre workers to park on nearby residential roads - something which is already happening.

It adds there is no justification for imposing the parking charge increase to Ashby only - describing it as a 'backwards step'.

The council says it supports, in principle, the North Street and South Street car parks being made short stay - but adds that this should be in conjunction with successful completion of the footpath link between Money Hill car park and the town centre.

But the response adds that a possible £6 a day charge for the Money Hill car park would discourage drivers and 'be a waste of an important new resource for the town'.

The North Street car park in Ashby. Photo: Instantstreetview.com

The council is also concerned that no reasons have been given for the changes as they would affect Ashby.

In full, the council's response to North West Leicestershire District Council's proposals read as follows.

It says: "As a Town Council we cannot complete the survey as such, as it is tailored to individuals using the District Council's car parks.

"However, we tender the following observations concerning both the proposed changes detailed in your letter of May 7 and the survey procedure adopted."

1. Proposed changes

a. Two hours free parking in all council car parks in Coalville, with charges beyond two hours mirroring the Belvoir Shopping Centre tariff.

We question why the District Council's charges in Coalville should mirror the charges in the Belvoir shopping centre when there is no matching proposal to align the charges in Ashby with those at the large private Co-op car park in Ashby. No supporting evidence or logic is provided to justify this.

b. Charges increased in Ashby to be in line with similar charges in neighbouring district and borough councils.

The proposed increases for Ashby are far too high, especially those for longer stays (ranging from +23 per cent for an hour, up to +131 per cent for all day). If implemented, this will act as a significant deterrent to shoppers visiting Ashby.

Ashby is designated as a 'service centre' by the District Council in its Local Plan, it has not been designated as a 'principal town' (the principal town in the North West Leicestershire area being designated as Coalville) and any increase in charges runs the risk of driving footfall to larger towns and cities that offer a wider variety of shops etc.

Residential areas near the town centre are already often congested with parked vehicles from town centre workers. An increase in charges – particularly the daily charge – is likely to exacerbate this issue.

We would not oppose an inflationary increase, if implemented across the district, where there is demonstrable proof that the increase would fund car parking only and not a wider budget shortfall at the District Council. However, there can be no justification for imposing this increase to Ashby only, and we strongly oppose this. We cannot support differential pricing around the district. We supported the changes made in 2020, which aligned charges more closely between Ashby and Coalville and believe this proposal is a major backwards step. The motivation for this proposal has not been made clear by the District Council.

Ashby Town Council would be open to exploring the possibility of taking on the responsibility for looking after the town's car parks, but options would need to be explored that did not put the rest of the Town Council's operation at risk.

c. Review electric vehicle charging points in council car parks.

No information is provided as to what this review may entail or whether the District Council is looking to expand or reduce EV charging. We would strongly support the provision of further charging points in the Ashby car parks and the upgrading of those already provided to the highest practical charge rates.

South Street car park in Ashby. Photo: Instantstreetview.com

d. Two hours free parking in all council car parks across the district (except Ashby), with charges applied after this.

As for a. above, we strongly oppose treating the Ashby car parks any differently to the other District car parks, with visitors for only short periods, such as 10 minutes to visit a particular shop, being charged. The Ashby Co-op provides one-hour free parking and we would request at least this is reflected in the Ashby charges if free parking is to be provided elsewhere. No justification is provided for this proposal.

e. North Street and South Street car parks in Ashby changed to become short stay.

We support this change in principle as the car parks closest to the Town centre should be short stay to encourage shoppers to the Town Centre. However, an enabler to this should be the successful completion of the footpath link between Money Hill car park and the town centre via North Street. The proposed alternative route is not suitable & without this new route would encourage people to park on nearby streets to the detriment of the town.

f. A new long stay car park at Money Hill in Ashby, including an electric vehicle charging hub.

We support this proposal. However, if the long stay charge is increased to £6 a day than it is highly unlikely to be well used, which would be a waste of an important new resource for the Town.

We trust that the charging hub will comprise of a significant number of charging points. We also understand that these will be partly solar powered, which we also support.

We draw the District Council's attention to the significant problems relating to the footpath between the new car park and North Street, through Wainwright's haulage yard. We have concerns about the safety of this path, which will remain unsuitable for use by town centre workers until it is resolved. We urge the District Council to work with all stakeholders, particularly the Town Council, County Council and the landowner to make this route safe and open to both walkers and cyclists. If not addressed, this poor access will further discourage use and drive Town centre workers to park in residential streets.

2. Survey Procedure

We are concerned that this survey has been conducted without supplying any background information nor any justifications for the proposed changes. No reasoning is given for the proposals. Our residents are not able to make informed responses without being provided with sufficient details.

Furthermore, the online survey merely contains a series of limited yes/no questions without any provision for the expression of nuance or reasons for any particular response. This may make it easy to analyse but will not provide a reliable dataset. We understand that similar concerns have been expressed about the recent Local Plan Regulation 18 public consultation.