Out-of-Town Parking Tax To Save High Street Shops

The Commission for Integrated Transport is wrong if it believes that parking fees at out-of-town shopping centres will save the High Street.

Here in Newmarket, parking has always been free and the consequence is that it has a vibrant town centre, with lots of unique shops and an excellent and large Waitrose. This good and free centre has also meant that few of the outlying villages have any shops of note.

Recently, they have have started to charge in parts of Newmarket Town Centre. It is still too early to tell if this is going to have a negative effect on business, but it certainly means that visitors and potential shoppers can now always find a place to park. Everybody who visits regularly seem positive, after first rejecting the proposed charges. After all, we pay everywhere else.

I very much suspect that parking charges at out-of-town shopping centres, will actually improve turnover as casual visitors will be deterred by the charges and serious shoppers will be attracted by the less frenetic experience.