Businesses, residents and shoppers are being urged to have their say on the future of car parking in Lichfield City centre.
A consultation has been launched by Lichfield District Council which will help develop a long-term strategy on the issue.
Councillors also hope the information will allow them to set out detailed recommendations for the future of city centre car parking provision as part of the city centre masterplan project.
Cllr Liz Little, cabinet member responsible for economic development, said:
“We are looking for as many people as possible to tell us about their experiences of car parking in Lichfield city centre and give us their views on the level of parking within the city centre, the locations of the car parks, the costs of parking, and what they like and don’t like about the car parks.
“The car parking consultation is the first of several engagement opportunities that we have planned for this year to help to keep up the momentum of developing the different themes and ideas contained in the masterplan.
“The more views that we are able to gather from residents, businesses and visitors, the better informed our plans will be.”
Consultation responses are being gathered via a questionnaire at www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/parkingconsultation until 21st March.
The development of the car park strategy are being supported by highways and transport consultants from the 2020 Consultancy.
Adam Bunce, director at 2020 Consultancy, said:
“We are delighted to be chosen as the consultants to deliver this exciting piece of work and we are looking forward to working with Lichfield District Council over the coming months.”
Adam Bunce, 2020 Consultancy
Trouble is councils use car park as cash cows. Then shops complain about lack of custom. People should be encouraged to shop locally . Personally have
been charged for overstaying by 10 minutes. Lower charges for a month, when shops are open again and see if it works.
Some strange questions in survey
Is this why my Council tax is going up!
LDC need to employ an external consultancy to tell them, 1) can people find a space 2)Whether there is sufficient parking in the city centre and 3)The parking experience including directional signage, safety, and locations.
Surely a simple analysis of the revenue per car park would answer all of those questions and would also provide details of peak and under usage. Therefore informing location and capacity planning.
Also no mention of linking this into the wider housing explosion occurring and also the complete lack of infrastructure needed to support more cars, if in fact cars are relevant in 20 years.
Yet more disjointed thinking from LDC.
Leave it as it was, before you messed about with disabled spaces.
The survey asks about Cleanliness! The stairs of the multi-storey Debenhams park are absolutly disgusting!
Some years ago Lichfield had what was probably the cheapest short term car parking . parks were quite full , short term prices were mostly the ones used . But all the shops were busy , no boarded up shops . People went to Lichfield used the shops and went home as someone left others entered always seemed busy . The the council increased car park fees to extortionate levels , result people stopped using them wherever possible, result a dead city centre , and it is still the same . Greedy council members had the wrong idea . When basic costs are too high they find other ways to go shopping , Pensioners take wives in to buy and park out of city limits . One ring of the mobile husband goes back to the arranged pickup point . And less money has been spent in Lichfield . Been going on for years ,
I do find it a bit rich for Cllr Little to be scouting for views on parking when disabled people have been prevented from parking in the city centre, twice, with no apparent plans to remedy this until at least September. Where was the consultation about this? But then she is not known for consulting people, or listening to their views, is she?
Consultation? Smokescreen? Sadly the distinction is hard to make with Lichfield District Council. Once they have been elected they seem to develop group deafness.
There are good (unpaid) ideas about the future of the city if they would only listen. These include the changing needs and nature of city centres. The impact this might have on tourism and job creation. The effects on the commercial sector, shops and transport when people work from home. Loss of trade to the internet. The age demographic of the city.
They talk of a twenty year plan as if it is relevant. In truth we none of us, including the consultants, have any idea how this will pan out in the near future let alone in two decades time.
Why employ a Consultant at exorbitant Costing. Do we not have a Planning Department who have the capability ? What exactly do they do??
Maybe a good idea to sort out the initial Shamble of Friars Gate first. …. yes agree Car Park Madness
Stop charging for car parking. Stop wasting money on wardens.
Win win especially for visitors
How about they use their brains(cough) and get the traffic lights around town that have no sirens for blind walkers (even though we funded lots of new crossings, all without sirens wtf) sorted? and then pay attention to no filter lanes at tesco. Imagine the congestion that could be released…
I’d like to know what we got charged for the worst tarmac job in the world outside the hospital… The roads been wrecked for years and they pay a contactor xxx amount and after 2 weeks itvwa knackered again
Lichfield has no sense
Just wastes money
If we had a decent bus service why not do a park and ride into the city centre.
Our council members need to take a look at how our neighbouring Tamworth and see how they are growing with shops, large stores and are busy seven days every week and NO parking fees
When you click onto the link for the survey you get a vertical column with single words. It is meaningless and unusable. Can we have a survey about surveys please?
Pointless survey. People will obviously say they want to park for free. They want to park as closely as they can to the shops and places they want to visit and park all day if that is what they want to do. They will not care about other people so much and what they want or need, this will be particularly true about disabled access and parking. They will want the world to revolve around them and them alone. We are a selfish society and we have a council that does not listen anyway.
Why do LDC need to bring in consultants, to look at car parking.
The Planning Officers are able to calculate the impact of all new developments, on the local area. They are able to calculate the benefit, or detrimental impact, of all developments. How developments will impact of roads, public transport and the local community.
Why are they not using Planning Officers, to do this work? Or, is this an admission, that Planning Officers are not actually able to accurately calculate the impact of developments on the local area?
Questionnaire impossible to fill in as it is just a line down the centre of the page with incomplete questions and answer options.
Hope the persons responsible for designing the questionnaire are not given the job to relay out car parking spaces.
It is as I have always maintained, Councillors are dinosaurs. They may have been ok in the 1800,s when they only had a few thousand pound to spend, but now they have multi millions, they are not competent to use it.
Councillors should be phased out and a professional management team be installed.
Not sure why all the hate in these comments? The survey asks sensible questions and I’m pleased my views are being considered. I expect most people will say we need more parking and cheaper parking, without considering the relationship between supply and demand. The focus should really be on how people can be encouraged to access the city centre more sustainably where it is feasible for them to do so, ensuring spaces are prioritised for those who have to travel further or have mobility difficulties. The car parks aren’t attractive and don’t give a good first impression for visitors to our beautiful city. It’s a myth that the ‘death of the high street’ is due to high parking charges, it’s a far more complex situation than that, and seeking expert consultancy advice on this is worthwhile in my opinion, as there is lots of good practice to learn from elsewhere.
Stevo…. Most comments are posted out of frustration. We have seen it all before. Thousands, multi thousands in cases like Friarsgate in wasted consultations fees. And no progress!
On the parking front…Lichfield is a commuter city. There has been massive house building in recent years. Every house has at least one car. Add that to any tourists. As a simple starting point that builds a picture. It is difficult to park even when paying high prices. The council are eyeing up all potential house building areas, including car parks. They have not listened to previous observations. Many think this is history repeating itself.
Philip – 100% spot on.
I’ve lived in Lichfield for well over 30 years and nothing really changes. However, I’ve completed the survey and live in hope that my views might have some impact. I agree with Stevo, Lichfield’s problems have been long in the making and need a lot more consideration and innovation than just parking.
As a resident in Mileoak – Tamworth ( not sure why we come under Lichfield Council ) I have to say the parking is a joke. With the rise of on line deliveries, we are having a nightmare. Vans blocking our dropped kerb with white lines in front. We have a kerb that is breaking due to vans parking on the kerb. I recently reported it to Lichfield Council, report it to Staffordshire council – they said. I did. Report it to the highway agency they said – I did. Report it to the police they say – I did. Report it to Lichfield Council they said ( back to the beginning ). An absolute merry go round, I’ve come to a conclusion that no authorities or ethical frame work wants to take on any form of responsibility. So why should I.?
I sympathise Kevin, trying to find who is responsible for anything these days is like trying to catch a wave on the beach.