Free parking incentives revealed by Wrexham Council to give festive boost to town

A series of free parking initiatives for shoppers and visitors to the town have been announced for the festive period – with hints that a further ‘free after 3pm’ scheme could be rolled out in the town in the new year.

Wrexham Council have today revealed that it will be offering free parking in all its car parks – excluding Ty Pawb – on certain key days in November and December to help increase footfall in the run-up to Christmas, as well as general periods of free parking.

The festive events start in town on November 14th for the Christmas Lights Switch On, when parking will be free in the below car parks after 3pm. This will then continue until December 7th, when parking will become free after 10am.

Earlier today we spoke with the Leader of Wrexham Council Mark Pritchard about the promotion:

The key dates for the Christmas diary are:

– Wrexham Christmas Light Switch On , Thursday 14th November
– Victorian Market , Thursday 5th December
– Late night shopping , Thursday 12th and 19th December
– Wrexham Christmas Village , Friday 13th until Sunday 15th December

It is hoped that the initiative will give traders in the town a boost and encourage people to shop in Wrexham for Christmas.

The following car parks are included in the promotion:

– Waterworld
– Library
– St George’s Crescent
– Crescent Road
– St Giles

Free parking will also be available for Remembrance Sunday on November 10th.

Ty Pawb car park is not included in the above parking days, however the centre will be providing free parking every Friday until Christmas to support its film night events.

Commenting on the free parking schemes, Leader of Wrexham Council, Cllr Mark Pritchard, said: “We’re very pleased to be making this offer, particularly as we are currently experiencing financially challenging times.

“We have some excellent events lined up for the Christmas period and we are all keen to ensure that visitors have a great experience and that traders are able to capitalise on the added footfall that events such as these bring.

“Parking charges are always high on the agenda and although we cannot offer free parking 24/7, we have taken a look at the situation to see what we can do right now to benefit traders and ensure we have the income to continue to maintain our car parks at their current standards.”

Looking further ahead into the new year, Cllr Pritchard also indicated that depending on the success of the “free after 3pm” initiative over the festive period, it could be rolled out for longer across the town centre.

Shoppers may remember that such an initiative was in place in the town for several years, after a decision back in 2013 was made to scrap the ‘free after midday’ scheme in the then People’s Market and Crescent Road car parks.

The free after 3pm was then in place for five years, until a decision was made in 2017 to remove the initiative and increase parking charges.

Cllr Pritchard said: “The majority of our car parks are covered by CCTV and all of our car parks are reasonably priced.

“Depending on the success of the Christmas promotional programme, specifically the free after 3pm initiative, I intend to bring a report to a future meeting of the executive board to consider a long-term roll-out of this initiative.

“We all read about the problems encountered with local and private car parks in the town centre, and it’s reassuring that the same issues are not encountered in council run car parks.

During the free parking periods, all other highway restrictions and waiting times will apply in the town centre and motorists are advised that they will be ticketed if they are not correctly parked.”