Wrexham Assembly Member, Lesley Griffiths – and Member of Parliament, Ian Lucas – have jointly welcome the scrapping of a contentious Council plan to charge for town-centre car parking.
The plan, to charge Wrexham shoppers 50p for half hour and £1 for an hour stay in previously free parking areas came under fire from town centre businesses –and from the outset Labour Councillors, Lesley Griffiths AM, and Ian Lucas MP joined local businesses in condemnation of the plan.
The plan to start charging shoppers could have raised up to £45,000 for the council, however businesses said it would kill off trade and cause further business closures- costing more in the long run.
Wrexham MP, Ian Lucas commented:
“This is very good news for local traders in what looks to be an uncertain time for the high street across Britain. A number of national stores with bases in Wrexham have announced they are going into administration this week and I am worried that, due to the crisis in confidence nationally, this will only continue.
“In such a climate, the independent stores in Wrexham naturally take on a greater role and it is important that we do all we can to support them – including encouraging people into our town centre. Placing these parking charges on town centre streets would have had the opposite effect and I have been trying to tell councillors this for months – but they did not listen.
“What is concerning is the length of time the Liberal Democrat council leader – and his Liberal Democrat predecessor – allowed this to go on before changing their minds.”
Wrexham Assembly Member, Lesley Griffiths added:
“This is great news for Wrexham which will be welcomed by town centre businesses at this difficult time. I am relieved that the council appears to have seen sense on the issue.
“However, in my view the charging plans should not have got to this stage, questions must be asked over why this was allowed to go to consultation in the first place.
“Council leader Ron Davies used a casting vote to allow this to happen– at further public expense – only for the consultation to be scrapped anyway. The folly of charging customers to visit Wrexham should have been obvious from the very start.”
A formal recommendation to kill off the plan is to be put forward before councillors on Tuesday.
