Big shake up to parking in Deeside on the cards as pay and display consultation gets underway

Proposals to turn some car parks in Connah’s Quay, Shotton, Queensferry and Hawarden into pay and display are to be considered by Flintshire Councillors over the next few weeks.

In an effort to reduce congestion and raise much needed revenue the authority is looking to introduce pay and display measures in car parks with more than 40 spaces.

A total of ten local strategies are being developed for 44 car parks in the county.

Plans have been drawn up to implement pay and display parking at four locations in Deeside, they include the following car parks (number of spaces in brackets):

Shotton – (link to strategy document)
Ash Grove (59)
King George Street (46)
Charmleys Lane (46)
Connah’s Quay – (link to strategy document) 
Maude Street (40)
Somerfield / Council Offices (274)
Hawarden – (link to strategy document)
Tinkersdale (51)
Queensferry – (link to strategy document)
Station Road (76)

Plans have also been drafted for six other Flintshire towns to introduce pay and display parking – Flint, Holywell, Mold, Buckley ,Caergwrle and Talacre

Each local strategy will:

• prioritise the needs of disabled people, local residents, businesses and their customers
• promote more sustainable travel choices through the availability and effective costing of car parking, where demand is identified in support of the highway network
• where appropriate discourage the use of central parking spaces for long stay and seek to maximise the availability of short stay spaces
• retain long stay parking places and offer competitively priced permits
• ensure all on and off street restrictions are effectively enforced and the impact on surrounding residential areas minimised
• identify areas where on-street restrictions need amendment or where new restrictions are required to alleviate identified issues or risks
• identify areas where residential parking schemes may be required in the future, accounting from feedback of the initial pilot scheme.

A workplace parking permit scheme will also be introduced for employee parking areas in Mold (County Hall) and Flint. These are car parks designated within the local Car Park management arrangements and permits will be required by both employees and Councillors working and regularly visiting these buildings.

A consultation process around the proposals is now under way with County Councillors, Town and Community Councils and members of the public.

Councillor Bernie Attridge, Cabinet Member for Environment and Deputy Leader, said:

“The review of car parking charges is one of the many proposals under consideration as part of our challenge to find efficiencies in the order of £18+m in the coming financial year. The proposal to introduce parking charges at car parks across the County was agreed as part of the budget setting proposals. The consultation process is now underway and people have until March 29 to have their say, before the Council’s Cabinet considers a report on the car parking strategy in April 2015.”

Full details of the strategies, including the charges proposed, can be found here: Car parking Consultation