Vinci Car Parking Charges
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You are of course correct in what you say, but it’s how the town reacts to the changes that is important.
High car parking charges are going to tempt no one back into the town when they can park for free at an out of town centre. Also, when the town is as disjointed as it is from years of bad decisions, can you blame anyone for wanting to go to an out of town centre where everything is in one place. Car parking charges need serious looking at, as without people actually going to town then nothing is going to improve.
I remember the old eagles meadow car park where you could park all day for a modest amount. I would happily pay that and spend most of the day in town. Nowadays I generally park somewhere, shake my head at the prices and get the minimum time I need, get what I came to buy and get back before the ticket runs out.
As I drove past the entrance to Eagles Meadow Car Park Mid morning this morning the numbers showed 400 spaces on one level and 395 on the other so nearly 800 free spaces out of 900!! When you factor in how many buy a monthly ticket , not many parking on a Monday Market Day !!
Kevin Critchley, Eagles Meadow Shopping Centre Manager mentioned that Vinci are responding to rate increases.
” Of course I’m worried it might put people off shopping here and we’re concerned they have gone up by such a huge amount, but basically Vinci have said its rates have gone up so they are increasing prices. “
So do we know how much their rates have increased, and to whom these higher rates are payable ?
Its all down to the cost of doing business in the town.
Somebody on here mentioned how many pairs of shoes Brantano has to sell to cover its costs, let alone make a profit. How would anybody like to run a store knowing they have to sell thousands of pairs of shoes just to pay the business rates. Theres a point where you may as well just leave your money in the bank and forget it.
From Vinci’s perspective how many cars have to pay to park to cover their business rates, before they start to see a return on their investment ie building a clean, safe, well lit car park.Two things that will help businesses in Wrexham town centre are lower business rates ( revaluation urgent ) and cheaper parking, ideally with a free period of at least 90 minutes.
Even the short stay parking available works – needs to be more of it.
I regularly wait for my bus in King Street bus station after work and its amazing how many customers park up, collect their Chinese takeaway and drive off, all within 10 to 15 mins. Imagine the impact if this wasn’t possible.
Similarly the new cup cake cafe in Charles Street, forgetting their online delivery for a moment, it really must boost trade that customers can park up free, collect their cup cakes and go. Imagine again if there was no free parking.
Roll out this principle to every store in Wrexham and the benefit to the tills would be profound.
Looking on Wrexham.com and elsewhere its proven beyond doubt that shoppers don’t like paying for parking, or at best seek value for money parking, it is something needing to be accepted as simple fact – then do something about it.The idea that out of town shopping centres with free parking harm town centre shops is being tackled by the proposed ” Tesco Tax ” which though rejected so far in England, is already introduced in similar form in Scotland and Northern Ireland. What has WAG to say on this topic I wonder ?
Applying a levy of up to 8.5% on stores with above a certain level of floorspace and using it to aid local shopping businesses may redress the disproportionate application of business rates on small local shops.
This piece in todays Telegraph is illuminating – as are the comments.
‘Tesco Tax’ will cause price hikes, retailers say – TelegraphNow I wonder what will happen if this goes ahead and more taxes are raised by local councils from Tesco and suchlike. Will the money really go to help local shops in town centres – or will it disappear into a black hole that supports council balance sheets for any purpose ?
Recently it was said that perhaps we need to rethink town centres as being full of shops, that landlords business models are broken, as are those of local shopkeepers.
It is a fair question to ask if the most broken business model is that of local councils raising enormous revenues from town centre businesses that no longer reflect the reality of trading in todays environment.Councils need to be more efficient, charge tax payers less AND deliver more attractive conditions for conducting business.
If the idea of the ” Tesco Tax ” doesn’t appeal I wonder how the other proposed revenue stream will be viewed – a levy on internet purchases, the so called ” Amazon Tax “.
Local councils will levy a local sales tax on internet purchases collected at point of sale like VAT, then distributed back to the local economy to help pay for local services.
Now that would really make people spit out their pips.Research has shown that 95% of money spent in large supermarkets leaves the local economy for good, compared to 50% spent in local businesses.
So is it not in everyone’s interest to support local shops ?
In the old days if Billy the butcher buys his car from Dave’s garage, Dave buys his meat from Billy the butcher, they both have fruit & veg from Jimmy the grocer and all the money goes round and around locally.
Now that Billy and Jimmy have gone out of business neither will be buying a car from Dave and he closes down too.
Now the council has lost three sources of income, with more and more by the week – and so it goes on until eventually there is next to no money from local business.
A tax on purchases made by internet will replace this revenue and protect local services.Councils want 'Tesco tax' on big supermarkets – Business News – Business – The Independent
So just for now could we just have a better parking offer to help our traders and a revaluation of Business Rates – downwards.
Then maybe even Vinci will drop their prices !!!Lets hold off steam rollering the town centre shops and building more flats just for the moment.
Katia, you have sorted out the shops, business rates & parking but will you please stand for council next time and sort them out too. Or even become our next MP. I will vote for you whatever party you stand for.
I assume we all know that local authorities neither set business rate levels nor keep the money they collect?
The VOA calculates Rateable Values while (in Wales) Welsh Government sets teh multiplier, receives money collected and redistributes this to teh councils.
@Katia 14279 wrote:
Two things that will help businesses in Wrexham town centre are lower business rates ( revaluation urgent ) and cheaper parking, ideally with a free period of at least 90 minutes.
Even the short stay parking available works – needs to be more of it.
I regularly wait for my bus in King Street bus station after work and its amazing how many customers park up, collect their Chinese takeaway and drive off, all within 10 to 15 mins. Imagine the impact if this wasn’t possible.
Similarly the new cup cake cafe in Charles Street, forgetting their online delivery for a moment, it really must boost trade that customers can park up free, collect their cup cakes and go. Imagine again if there was no free parking.
Roll out this principle to every store in Wrexham and the benefit to the tills would be profound.
Looking on Wrexham.com and elsewhere its proven beyond doubt that shoppers don’t like paying for parking, or at best seek value for money parking, it is something needing to be accepted as simple fact – then do something about it.100% Agree! Personally I normally only go into town for banking business cheques / cash, I find some 30min on street parking go to the bank then get out of there. If I had 90 min of free parking in town then I would certainly walk a different way back to the car for a look around, and may even visit a shop or two and spend money.
I even park on street for 30 min if visiting stores like Maplin, go in get what I want and get back home.
Looking on the Valuation Office website, the Eagles Meadow car park rateable value has remained the same since 2010 so their rates have not increased. There is the obvious rise in the annual poundage, set by Welsh Government, but all businesses are subject to this rise so unless I’m reading it wrong, I can’t see the justification for the increase in parking charges. Simple answer: use the cheaper Council car parks and walk to Eagles Meadow if need be.
I’ve stated before that a revaluation is needed for all businesses, but this is no silver bullet as the Welsh Government will probably just increase the annual poundage to compensate for any rateable value decreases as they did after the 2010 revaluation.
Although this belongs to a different thread, I still feel that the rougher element of Wrexham is more visible nowadays than ever before. As someone who is based in Wxm 3 days a week, I feel we need a zero tolerance policy on drink/drugs in the Town Centre. I continually witness anti social behaviour. Just today, on the High Street outside Lloyds Bar, I witnessed 6 well known faces, obviously drunk/drugged up, shouting and swearing in full view of children and families and all swigging cheap cider.
I think Wrexham could really promote the café culture ideal, but not until these people are driven out of Town. Don’t give me any nonsense about rehabilitation etc.. these people are too far gone and not interested in bettering themselves.
@Alunh 14284 wrote:
Lots of interesting views
Maybe we should all meet for a pint and a good moan… :)
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