How my idea made hundreds of readers go parking mad

7:07pm Monday 10th December 2007

Comments (5)   Have your say »

SOMETIMES in this job you manage to hit a nerve and all hell breaks loose. Two weeks ago that happened when the Bucks Free Press launched a campaign to fight car park increases in the Wycombe district.

I decided to campaign after walking around High Wycombe and talking to traders and after reading furious letters from readers about the hikes that, if approved, will begin in January.

Some of the proposed increases around the district aren't horrendous, but it's the long stay ones in the centre of High Wycombe that have made most people sit up.

These are almost 100 per cent, meaning that a motorist parking at, say, Easton Street while they work a normal shift in town will now pay at least £4.50 extra per day. That's £22.50 per week, or at least £90 per month.

But that's not all. What got many people's goat was the suggestion from the district council this is being done to get more people on to public transport.

Now, I like the idea of public transport and would support this policy myself if there was only a comprehensive all-singing, all-dancing bus system in south Bucks that took people where they wanted to go when they wanted. But, during the last little while, there has been no greater source of complaint in my editor's postbag than the state of the bus service.

Yes, there are plenty of buses in town. But most seem to leave at the same peak hour time and go the same route. If you live slightly off the beaten track and you do slightly unsocial hours, then forget it. Learn to drive or don't work in High Wycombe.

This all becomes even more worrying when you talk to town centre traders who are currently suffering quite significantly from the construction works in High Wycombe for the new Eden centre. Most people support Eden. I know I do, because it will bring great benefits to the town.

But it doesn't open until March and currently many shoppers appear to be staying away because it's difficult to park. So the council's proposed rises in January will only compound this problem.

The council has always said, quite rightly, no pain, no gain', but if the pain experienced means you going out of business before the gain of Eden, then some existing traders are rightly going to gripe.

I understand why the council wants to increase parking prices. These will be the first rises in four years; High Wycombe will still be cheaper than equivalent towns; the roads probably cannot cope with the influx of cars; and a new cheaper surface car park has just opened in Bellfield.

That's all fair enough, but my view is that the rises are too much too soon and there is too much reliance on a public transport system currently struggling to meet the needs of its public. So that's why I decided to launch the campaign.

But even I was not prepared for the massive reaction from the public. Emails backing us began to flood in as soon as the campaign went public and I've been bombarded with messages criticising the proposed rises.

The council, which has put the proposal out to public consultation, may well think this is Cohen making trouble. But if it is truly serious about consulting its public, then it is going to have to listen and act by scrapping, or massively amending the plan.

There will be no shame in it for councillors if they do change their minds. That's not weakness; it's democracy. Let's wait and see what they do.