Cattle Market car park in Bury St Edmunds, where parking fees could rise by 10%.

TRADERS and businesses are rallying together to fight a 10% parking charge hike after expressing fears it could send a key Suffolk town over the edge.

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St Edmundsbury Borough Council is poised to increase the cost of car parking in Bury St Edmunds and Haverhill.

It says the move is necessary because lower Government settlement grants and a commitment to freeze council tax has left it having to find £3.5million over the next two years to balance its books. It currently costs £1.50 for a three-hour stay at the Parkway multi-storey, in Bury, compared with £4 for four hours at St Mary’s, in Colchester, or £5.20 at Cambridge’s Grafton Centre.

But while the council claims its current parking charges are generally far lower than rival towns such as Ipswich and Cambridge, business leaders in Bury claim a 10% hike could still damage the town.

A petition has been organised by the town’s chamber of commerce and industry and the local town centre improvement group Bid4Bury calling for the council to rethink its parking charge proposals.

In a joint letter, Andrew Denny, chairman of the Bury Chamber of Commerce, and Andrew Speed, chairman of Bid4Bury, said: “At the moment the town is just about surviving in very difficult trading circumstances but do the council really want to be responsible for tipping the town over the recessionary precipice?

“It appears that when it suits the council they claim to be ‘business friendly’ but once faced with funding shortfalls they take the easy option to penalise visitors to the town and local businesses by raising parking prices.

“No doubt they will claim that the pricing is not as high as other comparable shopping locations but when has “not being as bad as somebody else” been a justifiable excuse for a decision?”

Russell Cook, west Suffolk editor at the EADT, said: “Clearly the business community are very upset and concerned about the plans to raise parking fees in the town, which could have a detrimental effect on their trade and we wholeheartedly support their campaign.

“The independent shops and business in the town centre are the lifeblood of Bury and it is crucial that nothing is done to harm the prosperity of the town in what are already very difficult and challenging times.

“We know this is also a very tough time for the council and that savings have to be made. But they need to look more closely at the parking price plan.”

A spokeswoman for the council said: “As Mary Portas says, town centres have to be destinations and experience shows that Bury St Edmunds is a very popular destination.

“Our car park charges are much cheaper than competing shopping centres and they have never been busier – which means more people are coming into the town than ever before. While we would never be complacent, our shop vacancy rate is below the national average.”

St Edmundsbury will decide its budget at a meeting of the full council next week.

Meanwhile, anyone want to sign the petition can do so at the EADT offices 11 Woolhall Street, Bury.

THE LETTER TO THE COUNCIL FROM THE CHAMBER AND BID4BURY

Currently the business environment is an extremely challenging one for our members and therefore the recent report from Mary Portas in regards of her review of the High Street was extremely welcome.

Two of the three core issues identified by Mary as having a detrimental impact on trading are relevant to businesses trading both within and outside of the High Street.

These issues are the levels of rent, rates and car parking charges and it is very disappointing that within a few weeks of this Government-sponsored report being published the Business Rates for all businesses across the country will increase by 5.6%.

The Chancellor is expected to announce that businesses will be able to defer a proportion of this increase beyond the next financial year but nonetheless it is hard to see how this increase will do anything other than make the trading environment even more difficult.

Both of our organisations and the borough council are working together to ensure that our members are aware of all the Business Rates financial support they are entitled to. It is a positive step to be working with the Economic Development Team in this regard but it is extremely disappointing when another part of the council is taking decisions likely to impact negatively upon town centre businesses.

We understand that the council is seriously considering increasing car parking charges by 10% having already increased them only a year ago. We accept that a consultation exercise was carried out whereby the council will state that there was support for this decision from around 900 people who participated in the survey, but how many of them are regular users of the town centre car parks?

Also what consideration was taken of the views of the 500-plus businesses that are members of our respective organisations and their employees?

It appears that when it suits the council they claim to be “business friendly” but once faced with funding shortfalls they take the easy option to penalise visitors to the town and local businesses by raising parking prices. No doubt they will claim that the pricing is not as high as other comparable shopping locations but when has “not being as bad as somebody else” been a justifiable excuse for a decision?

We will be writing to David Ruffley MP expressing our concerns but would ask the Council Cabinet and the Full Council to reject the recommendation to increase car parking charges in the borough.

At the moment the town is just about surviving in very difficult trading circumstances but do the council really want to be responsible for tipping the town over the recessionary precipice?

Andrew Denny Chair of the Bury St Edmunds Chamber of Commerce

ANDREW SPEED

Chair of Bid4Bury