Everton stadium 'blanket parking ban floored us'

Staff at the family owned Ten Streets Social were preparing to raise a toast to their own success when they heard news they claim could ruin them.

The popular restaurant, bar and events space in the Ten Streets district of Kirkdale in north Liverpool had just been granted planning permission for a major upgrade.

Joseph Burns, whose family own the venue, said the arrival of the £500m Everton Stadium had also looked like it would super-charge the business and he and his family were "excited".

But he told the BBC he was "floored" when he realised Liverpool City Council were proposing 365-day-a-year parking restrictions within a 30-minute walking radius around Everton's new home on Bramley-Moore Dock.

Businesses in the zone can apply for up to 10 parking permits at an annual cost of £50 per vehicle - but customers would have to be back in their vehicles within 60 minutes.

Liverpool Council said the Experimental Traffic Road Order (ETRO) is set to run for an 18-month trial period and the changes are still under consultation.

However more than 16,400 people have signed a petition on Change.org entitled "STOP the 365-Day Parking Restrictions Around Bramley-Moore Everton Stadium!"

In a statement the council said based on the response of local residents and businesses some of the restrictions are already under review - including the one hour no-return policy and the number of permits available to businesses.

A spokesperson said it was also considering whether to introduce pay-and-display facilities in some areas.

"It really will ruin our business if they don't change this and if they don't change it quickly," Mr Burns said.

Ten Streets Social had hosted consultation events in recent years where match day parking restrictions were outlined - a move considered common sense by most businesses.

However, Mr Burns said nobody in the area believed the council intended to impose some form of restrictions year-round until new parking signs were installed a couple of weeks ago.

"We were all completely floored, not just us," Mr Burns said.

"The other hospitality businesses within this area, right the way past Vauxhall Road.

"There's a group chat at the minute with about 140 of us in it and not one person is saying that we had any idea it was going to be a blanket ban across the whole year."

Mr Burns said bookings for the weekend ahead, the first where the new restrictions are in force, are down around 70%.

He said: "Every single person who comes in the restaurant is just saying 'are the regulations in place, will I be ok parking there?'

"We've had brides ringing up, people who have got funerals booked in asking if they're going be ok parking on the day.

"It's already having an affect on our business. Normally at this point we have about 120 people booked in for Sunday roasts, at the minute we've got 45."

When the BBC spoke to Mr Burns, Julie Maddocks, owner of nearby business-to-business printing firm Sprinter Printer on Dickson Street, was sitting down for breakfast with her husband.

She said she believed one of the biggest concerns was not just the impact on established businesses, but the potential to deter new investment and new arrivals from an area of former dockland which has showed promise as a development prospect.

"These businesses would have expected an influx of new people coming to the area, coming to the Ten Streets," she said.

"But if there's restrictions on parking - that's gonna be a huge, huge impact on some of these businesses.

"The outcome has to change and the outcome has to be that you can park on non match days."

Not far away on Dublin Street, garage owner Paul Jones said while the charges were not "catastrophic" he was facing difficulties about what to do with the vehicles of his customers on busy days when they do not all fit inside the workshop.

Mr Jones said it felt like a "little kick" to have to pay to park outside his firm, Euroclutch, after 36 years of no restrictions.

He said: "Growing up in Liverpool you've got the other two stadiums that we've had all our lives, and the parking becomes carnage every Saturday match day.

"However, it's not really a residential area this is it? So it's not going to affect people parking outside their own houses.

"I can see a need for it partially, but charging people £50 per car is a little bit extreme particularly in the present climate."

Other businesses, like Stanley's Café further along Dublin Street, said the positive impact of the influx of thousands of match-goers would offset the parking charges.

Part-owner Marie Williams said she was concerned about the fact the restrictions extended all year round, but said because the café sat on a route into the stadium they were expecting a big boost to business.

"At the moment, because this is the only street that's open on match days it shouldn't affect us but we won't know until then," she said.

"Having all these customers coming in it's going to be well better than the £50 a year."

However Gary Buckley, owner of food van and catering service Gary's Refreshments on Regent Road, said for businesses off the natural walking route towards Bramley-Moore Dock the benefits would be limited.

"It's ridiculous to have this on when there's all these businesses that need parking," he said.

"The likes of people who've got 30 employees, 50 employees, they're allowed 10 permits... It's not going to be worth it for some people to come to work."

The new permits do not just apply to the industrial units in areas like the Ten Streets.

More than 4,000 tenants and homeowners in residential estates will also have to apply for parking permits, with each property able to get two without charge.

In the Flower Streets area, sandwiched between the new stadium and Anfield Stadium, the BBC found mixed views.

We spoke to a number of people who welcomed the chance to stop the terraced streets descending into a free-for-all on match days which they said had already been a problem when Liverpool play.

Khadeja Daoud, 34, has lived in Pansy Street with her husband Mohammed Lamaoufi and their young daughter for five years.

"It's not going to be easy on a matchday," she said.

"Because the area here you don't have too many parking spaces, sometimes even when there is a match here at Anfield if we come late or we go for shopping we come back we cannot find parking here.

"We hope with the permits you can get a space for your car."

That was echoed by Lisa Williams, who has lived in the area with her husband for two or three years.

"Trying to get a space down here - there isn't a hope in hell," she said.

"In the long run it probably will be a good thing."

However for other residents, like Ken who has lived in Daisy Street for more than 40 years, the parking row represents a wider problem with a lack of infrastructure and planning around the new stadium.

"Don't get me wrong the ground is out of this world, but the infrastructure? Non-existent mate."

When it was suggested the parking restrictions may help ease "chaos" on match days, Ken replied: "It's chaotic anyway. It's chaos all the time, when Liverpool play.

"You can't move on Stanley Road, it's double parked.

"They park on the grass, everywhere you go mate, it's gridlocked.

"The whole top and bottom with Everton Stadium is they haven't thought about the infrastructure."

Referring to the parking permits on his own street, he added: "Basically if you've got family who come down to visit and you already have two cars how do they park?

"So you're never going to see your children and your grandchildren are you because they're going to get a ticket."

Liverpool Council said: "The first, and most important, point is to underline what an Experimental Parking Zone means – which is that basically it allows the Council to test out measures to see if they work and will modify them to support the area if needed.

"Given these measures are subject to a public consultation, the Council is listening and has already had conversations with numerous parties as well as a productive meeting with representatives of the local business community.

"We understand the concerns being raised about the Experimental Zone and although the measures can run for the next 18 months, we want to work with businesses and the public to see which measures can be improved before that point."

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