Park & ride and on street ticket machines suggested to solve ongoing town centre street parking issues

Calls for Wrexham Council to create a ‘Parking Masterplan’ have been made by councillors due to the continuous parking issues for residents who live in and around the town centre.

Five councillors – Adrienne Jeorrett, Marc Jones , Paul Jones, Alun Jenkins, Paul Roberts – who represents wards around the town centre, have made the call in a topic-request form to the homes and environment committee.

Parking issues in streets surrounding the town centre have been ongoing for sometime, with Wrexham.com reporting three years ago that traffic surveys were due to be carried out in the Ruthin Road area, near Bellevue Park, following a series of complaints.

However such problems are not unique to that part of the town, with side streets in Rhosddu, Smithfield, Maesydre and even supermarkets and the Wrexham Maelor Hospital also seeing a spike in congestion.

Within the topic-request it is noted a number of reasons are to blame for the parking issues, including:

– Number of cars per household ( families, renters and HMOs) and size of modern cars
– Low wage town centre workers parking in streets as they can’t afford buses and car park costs
– Coleg Cambria students parking in side streets and town centre workers unwilling to pay for parking
– Car park prices council and private
– Lack of public transport ( recent Arriva bus cancellations)
– Anti-social working hours parking in streets, no buses to get to work or return home
– Disabled parking/ needs and street signage
– Problems of displacing cars on to other streets further out of town
– Streets not built to accommodate number of cars
– No park and ride for Wrexham

As a result it is stated that councillors that represent the seven town wards are “being contacted about are varied but are persistent problems that are getting worse”. These include disabled residents not being able to park near their homes, residents with work vehicles having to park far from their home and having it broken in to HMOs and rented accommodation increasing the number of cars and public perception of lack of council interest in residents parking.

It is also noted that the problems have got so bad in some places, that a number of residents will not use their cars during the day, are unable to park near their property until after 7pm and have considered moving from the area altogether.

In a bid to improve the situation, the town councillors have called for the creation of a ‘Parking Masterplan’ and also a review of the current residents parking scheme – which was created in 2010/2011.

As part of this it has been proposed that a task and finish group is established, a consultation is carried out between residents and community councils and even brought to full council for discussion.

In their request, the councillors say: “The residents parking scheme was written in 2010. It would benefit in being updated in view of changes to town centre and to buses.

“There are many different options across the UK to resolve the problems of parking problems for residents and town centre businesses.

“A Master Plan would also need to include public transport and active travel. A Master plan would be able to look at the economic benefits of designed parking to support businesses, organisations, local residents.

“It would mean that Wrexham could be a more easily accessible place for visitors, shoppers and residents. When it is easier to go to out of town shopping areas or supermarkets because it is easier to park then business will not be encouraged to come to Wrexham.

“Any master plan would fully compliment the Town Centre Master Plan.

“It is important to note that space is a commodity and that whilst there is the need for people to pay market value for it, there also needs to be a balance with business and the local community.

“The pricing is therefore a trial and error process which needs to be explored.”

An appendix document submitted alongside the topic-request outlines four potential options / suggestions for further discussion and research work.

Such suggestions include the introduction of a park and ride for office works and a ban on non-resident parking / restrictions times parking in conjunction with the hospital.

There have been calls for a park and ride serving the town centre for sometime, particularly in a bid to reduce parking issues at the Wrexham Maelor for sometime.

Other suggestions include residents permits in the designated town area, with limited parking for non-residents and ticket machines in streets which are more expensive than using car parks for non-residents.

However an officer comment featured in the councillors’ request warns that the “council is not in a position to subsidise the cost of implementing and operating (enforcement) schemes” in terms of permits for residents.

The officer says: “There are a number of reasons why RPS (resident parking permits) have not proceeded through to implementation, the main reasons being the cost (£84.00) of individual permits together with the realisation that RPS cannot guarantee spaces will be available or that those spaces will be in close proximity to the applicants property address.

“Surveys undertaken back in 2010 highlighted that in many areas the demands from residents for parking exceeded the available space on street.

“These streets were simply not designed to accommodate the number of vehicles per household with
the problem exacerbated by the increase in the number of HMO properties.

“Notwithstanding the level of resources required to undertake a review of residents parking including for additional feasibility work, the outcome will be the same as the Council is not in a position to subsidise the cost of implementing and operating (enforcement) schemes.

“That is unless additional sources of income can be found to offset the costs. Given the current financial pressures facing the department, subsidising RPS could not be considered a priority.”

The issue of on street parking and the creation of a Parking Masterplan is expected to be considered at a later meeting. You can read the initial request and appendix on the council website.