On-Street Parking in Walton moves on…….

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As everyone by now is acutely aware, we are about to face one of the largest threats to our town centre in many years, On-street Parking Charges.

Walton town centre fell into a sorry state in the late eighties and early nineties and it was desperate for re-development.

This re-development came in the shape of The Heart Shopping Centre. Our independent shops have seen a small benefit from this development as people started to come to Walton to shop. Although parking has been an issue for many years it is now set to become a deciding factor in the financial viability of many of our local shops.

The Walton Society has opposed Surrey County Council who is determined to introduce On-street Parking Charges including Walton.

The following is the very latest update on decisions taken regarding on-street parking in Walton.

At a meeting of the SCC Elmbridge Local Committee in Esher this afternoon, proposals were agreed to introduce charging for certain on-street parking spaces across Elmbridge. Subject to the decision not being ‘called in’, i.e. overruled by the Surrey County Council (SCC) Cabinet, this concludes over 6 months of fierce debate on this subject, which included a 26,300 signature Surrey-wide petition that the scheme should be dropped.

Originally, in January, SCC proposed to introduce parking charges on the streets of Elmbridge in Claygate, Cobham, East Molesey, Esher, Hersham, Thames Ditton, Walton Town Centre, Walton Halfway and Weybridge. Charges would be either 60p an hour for smaller shopping areas or £1 an hour for the large towns.

This provoked a huge outcry, and we, as your Walton Society Councillors, tried to get the scheme withdrawn until a proper analysis of costs, and benefits and consultation with local businesses had been completed. Regrettably the Conservative majority on Elmbridge Borough Council blocked our recommendations for withdrawal of the scheme, but instead recommended that a free 30 minute period be introduced across Elmbridge.

A revised set of proposals was then agreed for consultation by the SCC Cabinet on 24^th May. This amounted to removing Thames Ditton from the list of villages where charges would be introduced and introducing a free 30 minute period for Claygate, Hersham, Weybridge, Walton Halfway and a few spaces in Cobham. However, to ensure financial viability of the scheme, charges in Claygate, Hersham and Walton Halfway would have to be increased to £1 an hour, the same as all the other areas. Later, in response to continuing concerns in many towns and villages, the SCC Cabinet agreed to all proposals being delegated to the Local Committees to make their own decisions, subject to possible ‘call in’ by the Cabinet. Effectively there was a threat that if a Local Committee refused to implement any on-street parking charges in a given Borough or watered the proposals down too much, then their decision would be overruled – so much for Localism!

So this afternoon, the Local Committee rejected my plea for the scheme to be thrown out and agreed the following:

1. On-street parking charges to be introduced in Cobham, East Molesey, Esher, Walton Town Centre, Walton Halfway and Weybridge, i.e. Claygate and Hersham have been removed from the list. Clearly it helps if your local Councillor is Leader of Elmbridge Borough Council.
2. Charging tariff to be £1 an hour. A free initial 30 minute period will apply in all areas where charges are being introduced. This free initial 30 minute charging period was only accepted for Walton Town Centre and East Molesey at the instigation of your Residents Group Councillors – most of the Conservatives – including Stuart Hawkins who represents Walton South – voted against the proposal, but because 2 Conservatives abstained, the measure was passed. We consider it would have been grossly unfair not only to exempt certain parts of the Borough such as Claygate and Hersham, but also then to discriminate between different towns in the Borough by allowing Weybridge and Cobham a free initial 30 minute period, but not allowing that privilege to East Molesey, Esher and Walton.
3. Finally I asked for, and got accepted, that the Local Committee should receive a report next year on the actual capital and revenue costs and the income arising from this introduction of charges so that we can see whether it is worthwhile or not.

Why try to oppose this scheme? We all know that Surrey County Council is short of money, although at the same meeting (item 17) £400,000 was agreed for a new Community Pride Fund, so perhaps they are not that short of money!

However, this scheme will have, in my view, a disproportionately adverse effect on the vitality of our local shopping centres. This morning I went round central Walton and spoke to managers/owners/staff at 20 shops/cafes/restaurants, all small local businesses. 17 out of 20 were vociferously against the introduction of these charges, They say that footfall is down across the town and it would be bad for trade to bring in parking charges that would discourage customers from visiting Walton. Many of the traders said that the introduction of charges could set off the closure of several businesses that are already operating on a knife-edge. By way of example, recent weeks have seen long-established retailers such as Jane Norman and T.J.Hughes go into administration. Another casualty has been the Moben/Sharp/Dolphin chain and their shop in the middle of the High Street stands closed as mute evidence of the problems.

Secondly, these charges are effectively a stealth tax on local people. Who other than Surrey Council-Tax payers will be paying to park along Walton’s streets and shop here? As such, it is a very inefficient form of taxation. The proposed scheme has estimated operating costs of £140,000 whilst possible income is estimated at £248,000. In addition there will be about £204,000 of set-up costs. The whole scheme hardly has any impact on Surrey County Council’s overall net Budget of around £600million to which Elmbridge Council-Tax payers are contributing this year over £70million, more that those of any other Borough in the County.

Finally, it is likely to lead to more displacement of cars into the residential roads around our town and village centres, increasing congestion and frustration for drivers. Our towns and villages will become that little bit more like central London in this respect, which we have tried for so long to avoid.

We tried to prevent this from happening, but did not succeed because we did not have enough votes in the Committee. We hope that residents will remember this when it comes to Election time.

Cllr Chris Sadler

Walton Central