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THE FOLLOWING ARE THE ORIGINAL PROPOSALS PRODUCED BY THE BOGNOR REGIS CIVIC SOCIETY IN SEPTEMBER 2010. Although we now have free parking, we are keeping all this information here and on the following pages for a while, so that readers can see all the background to what has happened. For the latest info, click on Free Parking is Here!
Bognor Regis Civic Society, together with the Chamber of Commerce and The Business Interchange is calling for Arun District Council to introduce a two-hour free parking scheme in the Town Centre car parks for residents and shoppers as an immediate move to kick-start regeneration. A detailed proposal document on the scheme has been forwarded to Arun District Council and all its Councillors, also to Bognor Regis Town Council, and to save repeating it all here please click on Free Parking Proposal to see the document in its entirety. And if you’d like to pledge your support for the petition (see below) click on Free Parking Pledge.
WIDE SUPPORT.
All the major Bognor Regis Shops have supported this proposal and it is also supported by all the major representative groups in the town, together with the FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) and the Town Council itself. In addition it has received wide support from the public, with 5,807 Town Centre users signing a petition calling on Arun District Council to introduce a scheme. The petition said:
“We, the undersigned, call on Arun District Council to immediately introduce free two-hour parking to all Bognor Regis Town Centre car parks. This to use a disc-based system as used in Littlehampton and funded from £500,000 and £2.7 million received from Sainsbury’s and Butlins. Also to seek to persuade WSCC to introduce similar free on-street car parking using the same system to all currently charged areas except residents’ areas.”
PURPOSE OF THE SCHEME
The intention of the proposal is not to benefit any particular sector of the public, i.e. car users, the traders, the leisure operators etc. To look at it that way would be a classic dog-in-the-manger approach and can only be regarded as negative and counter-productive.
This is intended as a regeneration scheme to benefit us all, and it is the only regeneration scheme yet proposed by anybody which is: a) deliverable now, b) affordable, c) already proven to work elsewhere, d) easily measurable as to its effectiveness, and e) supported by virtually the whole town.
It will work simply by attracting residents from surrounding areas back into the town. Those residents who have frequently been heard to say that they used to come into the town for the Bank, or some other errand, and did a bit of shopping at the same time - and who now go elsewhere. The small increase in footfall will increase the viability of some of the shops and other traders will see the opportunity and open up in the empty shops. Word will get round as to the improved shopping and more shoppers will come. Cafes, restaurants etc. will see the opportunities and open up too. Free parking will bring lots more people to enjoy all these, and before we know it we will have a busy, vibrant town which all of us can enjoy. That is the beginning of real regeneration.
There is much more to the proposal, and to find this out please click on Free Parking Proposal. Meanwhile, there have been many questions and comments raised in connection with this, and so we have included a Free Parking FAQ below. However, if you have any queries not answered here, please click on Contact Us and use whichever method you prefer to get in touch - we welcome your enquiries.
LATEST! RESEARCH SHOWS FREE PARKING CAN BRING MASSIVE BOOST IN JOBS AND WEALTH TO BOGNOR REGIS
New research carried out by Bognor Regis Civic Society has shown that the adoption of the proposed two-hour free parking scheme could boost the annual number of vehicle visits to the town centre by 91,000, bringing an extra 136,000 shoppers and visitors into the town. The additional spending brought into the town by this is calculated to be at least £1.25 million, which would be a welcome boost for the retail and leisure industry, and producing valuable spin-offs for community and public projects.
A valuable additional benefit is also shown to be a boost to the jobs market in the Town as a result of new opportunities that would spring from this. Extra staff will be needed by retail and leisure outlets, and new businesses will fill the current 30 empty shops. This will create more than 490 new jobs, adding additional wealth to the Town Centre economy. If this is added to the extra visitor income, this is calculated to be worth more than £2 million every year to the Town’s economy.
“This is an extremely powerful argument in favour of the Free Parking proposals,” said Hugh Coster, Civic Society Deputy Chairman, “and one that cannot be ignored by any responsible election candidate or future Councillor. Especially when it is realised that this massive benefit can come at minimal cost - a 3 year pilot scheme will cost less than £192,000 and could well be self-sustaining thereafter. That’s a return on investment of at least 1000%, which is good news in anyone’s language. At the very least, the project has to be well worth pursuing, and we call on everybody in the Town, particularly election candidates, future Councillors and Council Officers to work together to make this happen.”
Candidates and public, please pledge your support for the Free Parking petition now by clicking on Free Parking Pledge
BEWARE OF FREE PARKING SNEAKY ELECTION TRICKS!
It has come to our notice that some election candidates used crafty words on their leaflets etc., mostly those in the “NO pledge received” category, to make people think they support the petition. They say something vague, like “we support free parking as in Littlehampton” or “in principle” or some such, which really means they’re not supporting the petition at all. This gives them the opportunity, if they choose, to slide out of the whole thing after the election, when they’ve got your vote.
Make your own mind up about people who adopt such tactics, but meanwhile unless you find them under “pledge received” on our table or they clearly state that they support the Free Parking petition, be very wary of their real intentions. If they really and genuinely support the petition they would say so.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD YOUR SUPPORT TO THE CAMPAIGN FOR BOGNOR REGIS FREE PARKING PLEASE CLICK ON FREE PARKING PLEDGE TO SEE MORE DETAILS
WSCC Election 2013 |
Election 2010 Meeting |
Rebuke Letter |
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WSCC Election 2013 |
Election 2010 Meeting |
Rebuke Letter |
News 3 |
News 4 |
News Archive |
News Archive 2 |
News Archive 3 |