Tivyside | Archive | 2002 | July | 2
From the Tivyside Advertiser, first published Tuesday 2nd Jul 2002.
Newcastle Emlyn traders have hit the roof over plans to introduce car parking charges at three of the town's busiest car parks.
Despite widespread opposition to the 20p levy proposed for the Mart, Castle Street and Cawdor car parks, Carmarthenshire County Council has ridden roughshod over the traders' concerns.
"It's the nail in the coffin and proves that the county council just doesn't care," said Cllr Alan Jones. "The officers have made up their minds to introduce these charges so no matter how hard we protest, they'll see them through to the bitter end."
One of the strongest arguments against the car park fees are the effect they will have on local shopping trends; traders fear that once shoppers will be faced with a 20p tariff (40p for a whole day), they'll ditch Newcastle Emlyn altogether in favour of larger shopping centres and out-of-town precincts. But the local authority disagrees - a survey carried out by an independent firm of marketing consultants concluded that the charges would have no detrimemental impact on retailing in the town. Their findings, however, have failed to curry favour with the traders.
"If people are faced with the choice of paying to shop or of travelling to an out-of-town centre where it's free, the out-of-town centre will win hands down," said Roger Spencer, chairman of Newcastle Emlyn chamber of trade. "They claim the charges won't affect retailing but their conclusions are based on similar schemes in Aldershot, Farnborough and Tewksbury. I'm sorry, but I can't see what towns like those have got to do with Newcastle Emlyn."
And it's not only the traders who are opposed to the charges. A petition signed by 6,000 locals was recently submitted to Carmarthenshire County Council while the town council has rejected the proposals from the outset.
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