Set your parking free
Published: 06 October, 2011
Free parking in out-of-town retail destinations is the norm but could parking costs be waived, if only for limited periods, in town centre shopping centres too?
Earlier this year, the government announced that councils would be able to set their own town-centre parking charges in a bid to ensure tariffs are right for each individual area. The government is also keen to encourage councils to lower parking charges, as high rates and rising fuel costs risk deterring shoppers.
The Labour government had asked councils to set high parking charges to encourage the use of public transport but the Department of Communities and Local Government said the new measures would support the “vitality of local economies and local shops”.
Earlier this year Edmund King, the AA’s president, said a 20p increase in parking charges in Edinburgh had prompted a big drop in people visiting local shops.
Since the announcement, parking tariffs have been discussed in council buildings up and down the country and changes are being implemented, despite parking charges being a major revenue generator for cash-strapped councils.
North Lincolnshire Council introduced free parking in Briggs, Ashby and Scunthorpe this month and Swansea lowered the cost of parking in its high street car park by 75 per cent to just £1 for a four hour stay, after discussions between the council and local businesses about how to boost trade.
Similarly, entrepreneurs in Spalding are putting pressure on the council to introduce free parking to prevent the area becoming what they describe as a ‘ghost town’.
So will shopping centres get on the bandwagon?
If offering free parking isn’t sustainable, lowering or cutting parking tariffs altogether doesn’t have to be a permanent fixture but can be done as a one-off to boost footfall during quieter periods or to coincide with seasonal, promotional or marketing activity, something already trialled at Manchester Arndale and the Bullring.
In Birmingham, the Bullring offered its customers free parking on Sunday 14 August in a bid to encourage shoppers back in the aftermarth of the riots. Bullring was one of the worst affected shopping centres with many of its retailers suffering criminal damage and looting after disturbances on Monday 8 August. Eight of its tenants remained closed the following day.
“Following the riots we had a 35 per cent like-for-like decrease across the board, in footfall, sales and in use of the car park. Offering a day of free parking was a reaction to rebuild confidence,” explains centre director, Tim Walley.
Bullring’s three car parks – with a capacity for 3,200 cars – are operated in-house, giving management scope to alter tariffs at short notice without having to negotiate with the council or an external operator.
The normal parking rate is £4 for two hours and £1 per hour thereafter with a maximum charge or £16 for 24 hours.
“The idea was to portray an image that business was back to normal and to get customers back in to the city centre. It was used along with marketing campaigns to convince people that the trouble was over.
“We got 4,300 cars in on that day, which is on par with a normal Sunday. Our tenants saw it as a positive move and something that instilled confidence.”
Walley hopes Bullring won’t need to offer free parking under such circumstances in future but says the opportunity to offer free parking along with promotional activity is always there.
Manchester Arndale has also offered its customers free parking, despite the centre car park being council-owned and run by NCP.
The centre rented out the entire 1,450-space car park in order to offer visitors free parking between 5-9pm on one day in December 2009 and again in 2010, as part of its Big Festive Shop campaign.
“It was used as a tactic to get people into Manchester,” explained Sue Boor, PRUPIM associate director, shopping centre marketing. “We aren’t able to offer free parking like out-of-town centres can so we wanted try it out for a limited period - it proved both popular and successful.”
