New parking tariffs bring Christmas cheer for town traders

Stratforward Business Improvement District has today welcomed the implementation of new simpler, unified parking charges throughout the town's District Council-owned car parks which will go live at the start of next week (10 December).

Chris Gregory, Stratforward project director, said, “Earlier this year we carried out customer research among a local audience.  Nearly 43 per cent of respondents cited ease of parking as the most, or second most, important factor in deciding where to shop whereas only sixper cent of respondents cited cost of parking as a factor.

“That's why Stratforward put improvements to town parking to the top of its agenda for 2012 and why we're delighted that our work with Stratford District Council, in partnership with other key town centre stakeholders such as the Stratford Society, has delivered exactly what our member businesses need.

“Evening parking rates have fallen to a flat £2 between 4pm and 8am, which will be of significant benefit for the day into evening economy, boosting both our retailers and leisure operators.  In addition, reductions to, and increased uniformity of, longer stay tariffs will encourage visitors to extend their stays.

“Local residents can also benefit from discounts on town centre parking charges.  The Stratford Card is a pre-payment card which can be used to pay for parking and for every £1 loaded onto the card, Stratford District Council will add a further 25p.

“What's more, next week's improvements are just the first in a series of measures that will dramatically improve the ease of parking within the town. Moving into 2013 visitors will be able to pay for parking – and extend their stays – by mobile phone and the planned renaming of car parks will dramatically assist with way-finding within the town centre."

Cllr Lynda Organ, Technical Services Portfolio at Stratford District Council says, “We have worked hard on our tariff reforms to ensure they meet the needs of businesses and residents alike and shows that as a District Council we are listening to concerns and acting on these.  Whilst reviewing our tariffs we have been able to maintain the 1hour free at Bridgefoot  and further discounts are still available when you purchase a *Stratford Card."

*The Stratford Card can be purchased by any person for a one-off fee of £2.00, which allows you to preload credit on to the card enabling use in any of the District Council town centre pay and display car parks.  Every time you place credit on your card you are given a 25% bonus.  So for every £10 purchased you get a bonus of £2.50 and the card now has a value of £12.50.

The new tariffs will see all Stratford District Council car parks charging just £1 per hour for the first four hours of parking, a reduction to £6 for stays of five to nine hours, £8 for stays of up to 12 hours and extended stay rates of £10 for 24 hours and just £20 for 72 hours. 

Please note that the above revised tariffs will be implemented in ALL Stratford District Council car parks on 10 December.

Further information is available at http://www.stratford.gov.uk/transport/parking.cfm?source=pop