Cllr Worrow has supposedly “seen the light” on
the “trivial matter” of free parking versus parking charges and obviously the
Conservative councillors are crying “foul”. But when are these councillors
going to wake up and see the true situation. To describe the parking situation in Thanet as
an absolute mess, is being kind to it.
We have free parking in Westwood Cross to
encourage out of town shopping and parking charges in the Old Town Centres to
finally kill them off. Even the Christmas free parking is in obscure car parks
not near the town centres. Minster has
free parking and the shops are thriving, other villages have none and the shops
have all shut. YES there is a connection between available free parking and
shop viability. I live within walking distance of Ramsgate town centre, but on
occasions when I have to take a car into town, lack of easy parking just puts
me off, so people who have to drive in regularly probably go elsewhere.
The council do not even learn from their mistakes,
having cocked–up Thanet shopping by building Westwood Cross, there are still
councillors supporting the future cock-up to be, known as Parkway station.
Billed as a station for the Kent International Airport it is on the wrong side of the
runway and will include, yes you guessed it, a huge car park.
Any moron can work out that an air passenger
arriving at or departing from KIA by train will have no car, so who will use
this car park. Not the existing commuters because most of them have their commuting
arrangements already worked out. There will be an influx of new commuters
wanting executive houses built around the station or on the Eurokent site.
Ramsgate station will then be downgraded, when all it needs is a good
parking scheme to make it more viable.
Back to Ramsgate town centre and Leopold Street car park, this has a 30% usage
level with proposals to close two upper floors, when all it needs is good
security and appropriate management to make it popular. This could take the
pressure off Pier Yard and allow a much more pleasant pedestrian space in front
of Clock House (if ever it opens again)
The way parking is handled in an urban
environment can have a profound effect on the appearance and prosperity of a
town. In some French towns on-street parking is alternating, so on one side of the
road, parking is restricted from the first to the fifteenth of the month (see above sign), then the
other side is restricted for the remainder of the month . This encourages a free flow of
traffic and reduces the appearance of “cars everywhere”.
This post has been written from memory of
various encounters with poor parking management throughout Thanet, and I am
sure there are many more examples of which I am not aware. So maybe some Thanet
councillors will take good parking provision more seriously now they have lost
their lucrative allowances over such a “trivial matter”.
