Shops fear difficult times over new parking fees

Businesses say they are concerned about new parking charges coming into force in their town during one of the busiest times of their year.

Cheshire East Council has now brought in charges in a number of areas that have historically had free car parking.

In Alsager, Wendy Cotton, who works at a womenswear retailer, said she felt footfall was down and was worried that the charges would “kill” businesses.

Mark Goldsmith, from the council, said the authority had to take “difficult decisions” to “keep the council afloat”.

The new parking charges were approved by the council in January and proved controversial at the time.

There were protests in towns such as Sandbach and also outside the council's meeting when the charges were signed off in November.

Ms Cotton, from retailer Wall Street, which is directly opposite a car park in the Alsager, said it was much quieter than it used to be.

“There’s not the same footfall”, she said.

“We’ve had a really good couple of weeks, this is our busy time, people are thinking of Christmas presents, something to wear for Christmas time.

“[The charges are] going to kill us.”

Meanwhile, Rose King owns Rose’s Refills, a shop where people can refill their containers with goods, such as dried fruits and nuts, to save on waste.

She thought the charges could have an impact on Alsager but would wait and see.

“Personally, I think that we’re all going to stamp our feet and shout and moan about it for a little while but then I think the residents of Alsager will get on with it after a little while," Ms King said.

“I’m just really hoping that my customers will keep loyal and stick with me”.

She added it was “never a good time of year” to introduce the charges.

“But this time of the year is particularly difficult because money’s tight for everybody," she said.

There were also mixed feelings among shoppers in Alsager about the charges, with a number of people worried people might go out of town instead.

“It’ll kill Alsager," one man said, and he added that when a new supermarket opened on the outskirts of town, he thought people would go there.

But one shopper said she felt it was “fair enough”.

“We’ve lived elsewhere and we’ve always had to pay for parking,” she added.

Councillor Goldsmith told BBC Radio Stoke there were two reasons for introducing the charge.

“The previous system just wasn’t fair, we had some of the poorer towns in the borough that were paying the highest car parking charges and we had some of the richest towns where it was free," he said.

“Secondly, we need to bring in more money for the council, we do have financial difficulties like a lot of councils.

“It has been a difficult decision to make and ultimately we have to keep the council afloat so we’ve had to take those difficult decisions.

“We want to give all the support we can to town centres, but we know that this isn’t the be all and end all.”

Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.