This, written by me, appeared in the Herald Express today...time for action....
People won't come back to shop in town centres if they can't park – it's that simple!
YOU would have to be a modern Rip Van Winkle not to have noticed that life has changed dramatically in the past few years.
So much of what we had previously taken for granted seems to have been blow away in a sort of financial maelstrom that has left many people buffeted, battered and hugely confused.
A little while ago – well in point of fact it was actually four years ago – I delivered a number of lectures based on the concept The Tsunami of Change.
Basically, I had become increasingly worried about the gathering financial storm. That worry was not in isolation, since others had also started to become concerned about financial instability in the markets.
Of course, anyone with two thirds of a brain working would know that if the markets became unstable then the impact would hurt the most vulnerable sectors of society first.
The Tsunami of Change, in financial terms, is very much like that nasty wave. The incoming rush of water is bad enough but the real problem is when sea level is re-established. As the water rushes back to the ocean it pulls so much ugly rubbish with it and, sadly, enormous financial changes do the same, and yes you've guessed it, those most vulnerable in society suffer most.
In recent times the old story of frog cooking has a new relevance because in so many ways we have all been heated slowly and some of the changes happening leave us too apathetic to find a place of safety.
Why don't we react? Well too often it is simply the worry of change and being pushed from what we might call the comfort zone.
Most people will have heard about Roosevelt's 'All we have to fear is fear itself' comment in his first inaugural speech.
One obvious impact of the financial storm is the change in town centres. Take a walk through the centres of Paignton, Brixham and Torquay and count the number of empty shops.
Do you remember when local communities used to gather around the post office? Community disengagement is very dangerous indeed and this is a time when we all need to pull together for what we might deem to be the greater good.
Government, both national and local, has started to react and you will have been aware of the Business Improvement District initiative that has featured recently in the Herald Express. BID is shared investment between government and local business to energise town centres to try to pull people back to the town centres. It is a good and wholesome project which is captivating people and that has to be a very good thing.
But here is the rub. Why do people not come into our town centres? They always used to, so what has changed? The building of huge supermarkets around our towns, which seem now to have taken the place of Christian cathedrals and become the new cathedrals of consumerism, cleverly captivate people.
There we find an almost egalitarian approach in that the well-lit shelves offer goodies to all as families trundle from aisle to aisle. Have you attempted to visit a supermarket for a bottle of milk and leave with just that?
The nice thing about an out-of-town supermarket is, yes you've guessed it, easy free parking. Cars are welcome and in this day and age if the car is welcome then so are the people. The opposite is also true. If your family car is unwelcome then you feel unloved also.
It follows, therefore, that if nipping into the town for something means that you will have to a pay a pound-plus for parking then we tend to get a little twitchy.
Parking meters dominate the town centre which doesn't actually cause a problem. One immediate benefit of a parking meter is that the all-day parkers don't dam the possible parking spaces for shoppers.
No, it is not the parking meters that cause the problem. The problem is the parking charge. Road Tax hurts, insurance will bring tears to your eyes, fuel is at an all-time shocking high and having a car serviced can leave you sleepless for weeks.
Now add to that a parking charge every time you nip into town then it really is the final nail.
It's even more annoying when you nip into town spend your hard-earned cash on a meter charge, get home and then find you have forgotten something and have to head back into town and pay another parking charge.
For me the answer is blinding simple: Make the car as well as the person welcome. That immediately will be one of the biggest business improvement district outcomes. So how do we make them welcome?
Yes, that's right, make the first hour of parking free.
We've already got those lovely blue parking meters and all that needs to happen is a quick bit of reprogramming.
You will still need to display a ticket, but that hour is free. If you want to buy a ticket for longer then the charge would start after the first hour. How simple is that?
Now, I can already hear the curmudgeons on the attack. But stand back you harbingers of doom. Give it a chance and let's see whether folk start to gravitate back to the towns.
Coupled with the good work of BID I think that we could be on the edge of community regeneration which has to be a wonderful thing.
Torbay Council may cry 'oh no, oh no' at the thought of parking revenue dropping, but will it?
But here is another idea for you guys. How about toll gates on the approach to out of town supermarkets? Simple lever arm and bucket activation as a pound is thrown in. Now that has to be a winner, but of course will never happen.
Working on the harbour, I'm outside the Paignton BID, but the problems are the same. Harbour Sports shops are also located in Exeter and on Plymouth's historic Barbican and guess what? Yes, that's right. With one hand we are saying 'come and see us' and with the other we are saying 'but we'll sting you for parking'.
It's time for a little action, boys and girls. Time also I suspect for a little joined-up thinking rather that endless disparate initiatives and biblical visions.
Amen.
YOU would have to be a modern Rip Van Winkle not to have noticed that life has changed dramatically in the past few years.
So much of what we had previously taken for granted seems to have been blow away in a sort of financial maelstrom that has left many people buffeted, battered and hugely confused.
A little while ago – well in point of fact it was actually four years ago – I delivered a number of lectures based on the concept The Tsunami of Change.
Basically, I had become increasingly worried about the gathering financial storm. That worry was not in isolation, since others had also started to become concerned about financial instability in the markets.
Of course, anyone with two thirds of a brain working would know that if the markets became unstable then the impact would hurt the most vulnerable sectors of society first.
The Tsunami of Change, in financial terms, is very much like that nasty wave. The incoming rush of water is bad enough but the real problem is when sea level is re-established. As the water rushes back to the ocean it pulls so much ugly rubbish with it and, sadly, enormous financial changes do the same, and yes you've guessed it, those most vulnerable in society suffer most.
In recent times the old story of frog cooking has a new relevance because in so many ways we have all been heated slowly and some of the changes happening leave us too apathetic to find a place of safety.
Why don't we react? Well too often it is simply the worry of change and being pushed from what we might call the comfort zone.
Most people will have heard about Roosevelt's 'All we have to fear is fear itself' comment in his first inaugural speech.
One obvious impact of the financial storm is the change in town centres. Take a walk through the centres of Paignton, Brixham and Torquay and count the number of empty shops.
Do you remember when local communities used to gather around the post office? Community disengagement is very dangerous indeed and this is a time when we all need to pull together for what we might deem to be the greater good.
Government, both national and local, has started to react and you will have been aware of the Business Improvement District initiative that has featured recently in the Herald Express. BID is shared investment between government and local business to energise town centres to try to pull people back to the town centres. It is a good and wholesome project which is captivating people and that has to be a very good thing.
But here is the rub. Why do people not come into our town centres? They always used to, so what has changed? The building of huge supermarkets around our towns, which seem now to have taken the place of Christian cathedrals and become the new cathedrals of consumerism, cleverly captivate people.
There we find an almost egalitarian approach in that the well-lit shelves offer goodies to all as families trundle from aisle to aisle. Have you attempted to visit a supermarket for a bottle of milk and leave with just that?
The nice thing about an out-of-town supermarket is, yes you've guessed it, easy free parking. Cars are welcome and in this day and age if the car is welcome then so are the people. The opposite is also true. If your family car is unwelcome then you feel unloved also.
It follows, therefore, that if nipping into the town for something means that you will have to a pay a pound-plus for parking then we tend to get a little twitchy.
Parking meters dominate the town centre which doesn't actually cause a problem. One immediate benefit of a parking meter is that the all-day parkers don't dam the possible parking spaces for shoppers.
No, it is not the parking meters that cause the problem. The problem is the parking charge. Road Tax hurts, insurance will bring tears to your eyes, fuel is at an all-time shocking high and having a car serviced can leave you sleepless for weeks.
Now add to that a parking charge every time you nip into town then it really is the final nail.
It's even more annoying when you nip into town spend your hard-earned cash on a meter charge, get home and then find you have forgotten something and have to head back into town and pay another parking charge.
For me the answer is blinding simple: Make the car as well as the person welcome. That immediately will be one of the biggest business improvement district outcomes. So how do we make them welcome?
Yes, that's right, make the first hour of parking free.
We've already got those lovely blue parking meters and all that needs to happen is a quick bit of reprogramming.
You will still need to display a ticket, but that hour is free. If you want to buy a ticket for longer then the charge would start after the first hour. How simple is that?
Now, I can already hear the curmudgeons on the attack. But stand back you harbingers of doom. Give it a chance and let's see whether folk start to gravitate back to the towns.
Coupled with the good work of BID I think that we could be on the edge of community regeneration which has to be a wonderful thing.
Torbay Council may cry 'oh no, oh no' at the thought of parking revenue dropping, but will it?
But here is another idea for you guys. How about toll gates on the approach to out of town supermarkets? Simple lever arm and bucket activation as a pound is thrown in. Now that has to be a winner, but of course will never happen.
Working on the harbour, I'm outside the Paignton BID, but the problems are the same. Harbour Sports shops are also located in Exeter and on Plymouth's historic Barbican and guess what? Yes, that's right. With one hand we are saying 'come and see us' and with the other we are saying 'but we'll sting you for parking'.
It's time for a little action, boys and girls. Time also I suspect for a little joined-up thinking rather that endless disparate initiatives and biblical visions.
Amen.
