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It’s a parking free-for-all!
Reporter: Erin Heywood
Date online: 03 January 2013
COUNCIL chiefs have given shops and motorists a New Year boost by extending free car parking in Oldham town centre.
From Monday until March 31, motorists will be able to park free for up to two hours, seven days a week on all Oldham Council-owned car parks.
Anyone nipping into a shop will enjoy free street parking for up to 30 minutes over the same period.
During the trial, a detailed consultation will take place with shoppers, retailers, residents, visitors and car-park users.
To take advantage, drivers must take a ticket from the pay and display machines for the length of time they intend to stay.
Hobson Street multi-storey car park, off Union Street, will have free all-day parking at weekends.
Retailers on Yorkshire Street are thrilled. Paul Hughes, owner of Zutti & Co. said: “Half an hour is absolutely perfect. If it were longer it would be disastrous. You’d get shop owners and workmen using it, taking up the spaces for customers.
“Half an hour gives shoppers enough time to park outside and nip in for whatever they need. It will make a lot of customers very happy.”
Councillor Shoab Akhtar, cabinet member for business, skills and town centre, said: “For the last two years we have listened to concerns about the High Street. We introduced three hours of free parking on Saturdays in our town centre car parks in the run up to Christmas.
“More people used our car parks and that means more people visited shops and attractions. Now we’re extending the parking offer to two hours free parking, seven days a week.
“If residents want this to continue beyond the trial, we need them to support us and the town centre, by taking advantage of it.”
The two hours of free parking will apply at these car parks: Civic Centre, Waterloo Street, Southgate Street, Bow Street, Bradshaw Street, Oldham Sports Centre car park on Rock Street, Tommyfield, Clegg Street, Garlick Street, Cannon Street, New Radcliffe Street and Hobson Street.
Charges and penalties will apply to motorists who wish to park for longer than two hours at these venues.
For more information visit www.oldham.gov.uk/parking.
Comments
Tremendous news for all Sports Centre customers!
but spend 2hours & 5 seconds and the vicious parking attendants will have a ticket just for you! No thanks Oldham I'll shop elsewhere thanks
20 years too late.
Too little, too late.
The Council have not listened at all in the last two years, they are now trying free parking as a sop to the local retailers.
Oldham is slowly dying. Bolton invested 22m in their indoor market (2009), they are now investing 4.5m in their open market.
The Spindles is half empty, the indoor market roof leaks, year after year, Yorkshire street is half empty, and now you can jump on the Metro to Bury and Bolton.
What happened to the visiting Victorian market this year?
Remember Saddleworth Parish Council(LD's) doing this for Uppermill, http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news-headlines/43426/gaining-the-upper-hand
Got a slating from certain quarters.. Then they did it for Oldham http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news-headlines/54249/council-puts-brakes-on-allday-parking So Nothing new Councillor Shoab Akhtar. Just re-hash the LD's ideas and call them your own..
Revolutionary? No. Thinking out of the box? No. Duplicating what is already in place elsewhere? Yes.
Shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.
About time too, now all they have to do is get rid of the Baths and run the Market down even further, and they have got Shaw mark two.
Stop moaning this is a good thing and Flake you really need a reality check enjoy your shopping and dont worry about 5 seconds. IT WONT HAPPEN.
bagpuss2 is right. Why would anyone shop in Oldham? What's the town centre got that neighbouring towns or Manchester haven't? Only Rochdale is worse and Oldham town centre will soon be as dire as Rochdale's.
Considering the investment that both Bury and Bolton have put into regeneration and improvements, this is just another desperate, futile attempt by Oldham Council to delay the inevitable death of shopping in Oldham Town Centre.
Ironically, the much-awaited Metrolink will help to hasten this sad outcome. Bring in the tumbleweed.
Valid points. The metro is there to take people to Manchester not bring people to Oldham. I presume Manchester council laughed when Oldham council agreed to have it in Oldham. There is no need to go into Oldham anymore. What a forward thinking council we have. I wonder when they will have to put the council tax up again or make people redundant to subsides the empty spindles shopping centre.
Too little too late people have already moved on who wants to be blighted with one way streets & diversions & closed shops, i now shop in Stockport & Denton, there is a brilliant retail park in Denton called Crown Point its massive loads of shops & their parking is & always will be free, its not just the price of a ticket who wants to worry about getting back to their car on time when your trying to do your shopping, shopping is supposed to be enjoyable but this ruins it.
i suggested this sort of idea over 3 years ago.
i anticipated the destructive nature the proposed metrolink works was going to have on the town.
i suggested the council (in its previous form) tried to minimise the damage to oldhams businesses by introducing such a scheme.
sykes ignored it.
jim too ignored it.
many shops and busnesses have left for patures new or just closed up completely.
confidence in the town has been damaged and it will take alot more than this scheme to restore that now!
Have Your Say
That's great! Now all the council need to do is bring back the market and creative incentives to businesses to invest in the town so that there is a reason for shoppers to actually spend as long as two hours in the town
By jackspratt @ 03/01/2013 12:28:56