Exeter free parking concerns

Councillor says air quality gets worse.

Last month, Exeter City Council launched an offer to support late night shopping and the wider evening economy by enabling people to park for free in the Guildhall, John Lewis and Mary Arches Street Car Parks after 6pm on Thursday nights.

But speaking at a full council meeting, Cllr Jemima Moore said there was evidence that the air quality in the city gets worse in the winter when late night shopping offers take place.

She said: “As we move towards Christmas, air pollution increases, and Increasing visitors to the city at a cost of poorer air quality is not acceptable. We should find ways to attract people into the city using other methods of travel – be it bus or active travel – I am sure they can come up with many brilliant methods.

“Information from the University of Exeter shows that between October and December, air quality decreased, so we should encourage people to use other forms of transport.”

However, Cllr David Harvey, portfolio holder for the enivroment, said that there was no evidence that introducing free parking on Thursday had impacted on carbon neutrality ambitious.

He said: “The heart of the issue is that the business in the High Street were extremely agitated about the possible consequences of increased car parking charges. We want to attract people to the city centre and make it a thriving and vibrant part of the city.

“We produced evidence showed that people who made journeys into the city in the week would stay longer on the Thursday and do their shopping then and would no longer have the requirement to make the journey and drive in on Saturday.

“We want to support our businesses in Exeter. Had this harmed the carbon neutral status we are aiming for we would remove it, but there is no evidence that free car parking on Thursday nights has impacted on the carbon neutral status.”

In April, there was an inflation-busting 10 per cent hike in car parking charges at all city council run car parks, with councillors being told previously that the council cannot reduce the amount of vehicles and congestion on the road without ‘reasonable and regular increases in tariffs’.

The discussions came during a debate on whether to approve extending the boundary of the Exeter BID area to include Magdalen Road.

The existing InExeter Business Improvement District runs until the end of the year, and a second term of BID is set to cover the period 2020-2025.

A ballot on whether to continue the BID will take place in October 2019 and at request of the businesses association and businesses located on Magdalen Road, the BID boundary is to be extended.

Exeter City Council agreed to extend the boundary of the BID, that the city council casts its votes in favour of continuing the BID, and that contingency plans to be drawn up in case of a no vote.