From
The BBC» Salisbury free parking post-spy attack 'filled by commuters'
Free parking to help businesses after the nerve agent attack in Salisbury is under review after complaints commuters are taking advantage of free spaces.
Wiltshire Council brought in the benefit to tempt shoppers back after the attack on Russian ex-spy Segei Skripal and daughter Yulia on 4 March.
It said footfall in the city had dropped by 15% since the attack and coach party numbers were down 40%.
Wiltshire Council leader Jane Scott said: "We've heard that early in the morning all the employees come. Rather than using the park and ride, they now come into the city because it's free. We're going to have to look at that and see how we can manage that.
"We're working with the Chamber of Commerce and the BID (Business Improvement District) to say to businesses, 'please encourage your employees to go on the park and ride' because if not we don't get the churn of shoppers in the city."
Salisbury City Council leader Matthew Dean said: "Free parking is just a piece of the puzzle. There's free buses into the city centre on selected routes. The park and ride is free.
"These are all incentives to welcome people into the city. People watch the television and see the cordon and think it must be very busy and then don't want to go, but it's actually a very tiny part of the total city.
"All the main shopping centres are open - there's only seven businesses that are closed."
I'm kinda guessing that the problem that Wiltshire Council are reporting is that the now-free car parks are being filled up, so that visitors who are also arriving by private car can't find anywhere to park? If that's not the case, it just look like Wiltshire Council are feeling a bit sore because they feel that people (commuters) are "taking advantage of" their new free parking option in a way that Wiltshire Council hadn't allowed for when they changed the parking scheme.
"We've heard that early in the morning all the employees come. Rather than using the park and ride, they now come into the city because it's free. We're going to have to look at that and see how we can manage that.
1. It might be a good idea for Wiltshire Council to take a look themselves rather than take the word of some reporter(s) who's story may not be totally balanced
2. No - they come into the city because the need to be there, not because it's free.
3. How about looking and seeing
if something need to be managed or if it sorts itself / finds a natural position? There seems to be a need in certain quarters to regulate, control - "We're the local government, so doing nothing is not an option"
Perhaps I'm feeling a bit jaded this morning, but the point of freeing up car parking was to encourage people to drive into town ... and now that they're doing so it seems like they're the wrong sort of people!
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