Maidenhead Town Forum
Thursday 28 February 2013 6.30 pm
MAIDENHEAD TOWN FORUM
28 FEBRUARY 2013
PRESENT: Councillors Philip Love (Chairman), Claire Stretton (Vice-Chairman), Marion Mills (sub for Charles Hollingsworth), Hari Dev Sharma and Derek Wilson.
Also Present: Councillor Richard Kellaway and Bob Dulson (Civic Society).
Officers: Steph James, Tanya Leftwich and Neil Walter.
PART I
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Charles Hollingsworth.
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
None were received.
MINUTES
- RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the Forum held on 3 July 2012 be approved.
TO DISCUSS WHAT CHANGES CAN BE MADE TO CAR PARKING ARRANGEMENTS TO ENCOURAGE MORE LOCAL RESIDENTS AND VISITORS TO SHOP IN MAIDENHEAD
The Chairman explained that this was the first time a meeting had been called to discuss car parking and footfall at the same time and invited the Parking Manager, Neil Walter, to address the Forum.
The Parking Manager, Neil Walter, gave Members a short presentation on car parking in Maidenhead. It was agreed that the Clerk would distribute a copy of the presentation to Members with the minutes.
The presentation covered the following areas:
- · Background introduction.
· Usage figures.
· Payment methods.
· Stay length.
· What was currently being done to help encourage people to Maidenhead.
· What else could be done.
The Maidenhead Town Manager, Steph James, added that footfall in Maidenhead had been down 7.2% in 2012 compared to 2011 but that 2013 had started positively with an increase of 4.3% (down 4.6% nationally). Members were informed that Maidenhead had a 13% vacancy rate compared to the 10.9% national vacancy rate. The Maidenhead Town Manager informed the Forum that a footfall counter had been installed in the High Street and had been in place for the past two years. Members noted that a report had recently been published by the ATCM in association with the British Parking Association to look at how parking provision could encourage footfall in town centre’s. The Maidenhead Town Manager believed the car parking charges in Maidenhead were relatively good but that the perception of the ‘offer’ in Maidenhead was not particularly good which could be deterring people from coming to the Town Centre.
In the ensuing discussions the following points were noted:
- v The Parking Manager informed Members that the ANPR system had shown the busiest times in the Maidenhead car parks to be between 10am – 2.30pm.
v Members were informed that car park usage had dropped since 2010 which had coincided with the introduction of pre-paid season tickets of which sales were on the increase.
v It was noted that the ANPR ‘pay on exit’ technology which was currently in use in Broadway car park was hoped to be expanded to the River Street (Windsor), Stafferton Way and Hines Meadow car parks.
v Members were informed that whilst stay lengths had slightly increased over the last two years visitors tended not to stay in Maidenhead car parks over 2.25 hours.
v It was noted that ‘pay by phone’ would be available in Maidenhead by April 2013 which would allow open ended parking sessions by turning pay and display parking into pay on exit.
v The Parking Manager informed Members that ideally the Council needed to demolish and build fit for purpose car parks in Maidenhead.
v The Chairman informed Members that business people managed to park in the prime spots on the ground floors of the multi storey car parks, which the Parking Manager explained was not as much of a problem in Hines Meadow as Sainsbury’s was located on floors 3 and 4. It was suggested that the lowest two floors of multi storey car parks be made short-stay parking only with long-term parking on the top levels, with a clause to cover people with mobility problems. The Parking Manager agreed to look into this suggestion via the Maidenhead Town Partnership Board.
v The Parking Manager informed the Forum that Maidenhead had a very low level of crime in its car parks as the vast majority were covered by CCTV.
v The Maidenhead Town Manager explained that the Olympics had seen a positive effect on footfall figures in Maidenhead whilst there had been a decline in Windsor. Members noted that a rise in footfall had also been seen during the school holidays as more people, in the current climate, were opting to stay in the UK rather than travelling abroad.
v The Chairman informed Members that he believed banners needed to be displayed at the entrance / exit of Maidenhead car parks to advise about free parking on a Sunday and also to state the percentage of shops that would be open for business. It was noted that free Sunday parking excluded the Magnet Leisure Complex.
v The Maidenhead Town Manager informed Members that the first three months of business rates were free (a grace period) when a shop becomes vacant and then full business rates were charged which tended to encourage temporary lets. The Chairman explained that some landlords did not charge rent and simply got their tenants to pay the business rates so that the property does not cost them as much.
v The Maidenhead Town Manager explained that the decline in footfall and parking could be linked to the retail offer and quality of shops in Maidenhead. Members were informed that a lot of work was being done by ProM and the Maidenhead Town Partnership Board to help increase footfall figures.
v Members were informed that the Maidenhead Town Partnership Board planned to set up a target project group to look at and measure the car parking data. The Maidenhead Town Manager agreed to add Councillor Kellaway to the target project group attendance list.
v It was noted that a long term parking strategy would be needed once larger companies were introduced in to the town.
v Members were informed that the Broadway car park was currently the only car park that could count the number of cars that took advantage of the free Sunday parking in Maidenhead.
v Councillor Kellaway explained that the new office block in Market Street only had 75 parking spaces and 750 staff which could in turn help fill Hines Meadow car park.
v The Parking Manager informed Members that Maidenhead currently had a possible 1000 parking spaces available so was in a reasonably good position to be able to provide contract spaces if and when required.
v The Parking Manager explained that car parking in the Royal Borough generated approximately £6.3 million per annum of which approximately 60% came from Maidenhead.
v Councillor Claire Stretton suggested to Members that she believed more people would be encouraged to shop in Maidenhead if the first hour of parking was made free. The Parking Manager explained that as approximately 80% of parking was for between 0 - 1 hour, the first hour free parking would relate to a significant amount of money.
v The Chairman informed Members that Bracknell offered free parking from 3pm to encourage parents to shop after they collected their children from school.
v Councillor Sharma suggested that Members looked at Staines Town Centre which had been refurbished approximately 18 months ago and currently had only one vacant shop in its High Street, which Councillor Mills echoed.
v Members were also advised to look at Surrey and High Wycombe Town Centres too.
v The Parking Manager suggested that Members might like to look at on-street parking which was currently free. It was suggested that 20 or 30 bays could replace some of the double yellow lines in Bridge Avenue which Councillor Derek Wilson, as a ward Member, welcomed and supported.
v Bob Dulson and Councillor Claire Stretton requested that a review of the double yellow lines in Maidenhead be undertaken and where possible echelon parking be introduced. Councillor Marion Mills suggested the Bridge Avenue area to be an ideal location for echelon parking. The Parking Manager informed Members that he had delegated powers and that once he had communicated with all the ward Councillors involved it would be a relatively easy and quick process to introduce.
v The Parking Manager explained that the multi-story car park in Stafferton Way was built to take another two levels, if needed.
v Bob Dulson asked Members to encourage underground parking for the new developments coming to Maidenhead.
v The Maidenhead Town Manager informed Members that the perception of the Town Centre in Maidenhead on a week night had completely changed and that some premises such as Bar Coco, The Bell, and The Bear were now found to be very busy.
v The Parking Manager suggested making it no season tickets in the Broadway car park and to free up more on-street parking in order to make them into waiting bays by encouraging people currently parking on-street to park in the Council car parks. It was also suggested that 30 minute bays be introduced in Hines Meadow car park, an increase in the 4 for £2 offers and to also ensure that the retailers in Maidenhead were on board as in order to entice people into Maidenhead they would have to match the parking offers by offering cheaper cinema tickets, meal deals, etc.
v The Parking Manager and Maidenhead Town Manager both agreed that joined up work via the Maidenhead Town Partnership Board was needed along with the promotion of the positives of Maidenhead.
v The Maidenhead Town Manager informed Members that Art on the Street and the High Street Markets attracted footfall into Maidenhead. The Chairman explained that he would find it useful to know whether local people were walking in to Maidenhead or driving in to attend the Art on the Street and the High Street Markets.
v Councillor Claire Stretton informed the Forum that she believed Maidenhead would benefit from the introduction of lots of little individual shops rather than big department stores as on-line shopping was becoming more and more popular.
v Councillor Marion Mills suggested that the Parking Manager and Maidenhead Town Manager looked at both the footfall and parking figures from the Chinese New Year celebrations as she believed the event had been extremely well attended.
v Members were informed that footfall and parking figures from Reading were not yet available.
The Chairman thanked the Parking Manager and the Maidenhead Town Manager for addressing the Forum.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Members noted that the date of the next meeting was Tuesday 18 June 2013 at 6.30pm and would be held in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Maidenhead.
The Chairman requested that agenda item suggestions be emailed to the Clerk of the Forum.
MEETING
The meeting, which began at 6.30pm, ended at 7.45pm.