Plaid Cymru Electoral Candidates Present Free Carparking Petition at Carmarthenshire County Council.

Local Plaid Cymru electoral candidates Vaughan Williams and Helen Mary Jones, met today at County Hall in Carmarthen to hand in a 650 strong petition asking the county council to consider free parking for Llanelli in order to boost economic regeneration in the town.

Since the arrival of out of town shopping facilities at Trostre, the town centre has seen a marked decline in footfall making the viability of town centre stores ever more precarious as time goes by.

The out of town shopping facilities at Trostre boast ease of access, good links to the motorway and free parking.  In contrast the town centre of Llanelli can often be difficult to access with car parking that can be quite costly.  A knock on effect of this is that shoppers who do choose to use the town centre often feel that they have to rush as they are under ‘time pressure’ to return to their vehicles in order to avoid paying extra parking charges or be fined for overrunning their allotted time.

Needless to say, many traders in the town centre feel that they are not able to compete fairly with the out of town development at Trostre and their their businesses are hindered as a result of this situation.  Other traders and residents point to this as being the main cause of the economic decline of the town centre which was recently surveyed by specialist retail property experts Harper Dennis Hobbs as the second worst in Britain and by extension the worst in Wales, being beaten only by Dudley in a list of 500 town centres around the UK.

Other people point to the combined effects of car parking and pedestrianisation of the town centre as being a contributor to it’s decline.

Vaughan Williams, Plaid Llanelli Westminster Candidate said:

“I believe that we must do all we can to support the Town Centre. After meeting with business representatives and visiting local traders in Llanelli Market to listen to their concerns, it was noted how the vast majority were concerned at how these parking charges are affecting their everyday trade and business.”

“It seems that Labour-led Carmarthenshire County Council is obsessed with penalising people who want to support the Town Centre, I urge the Council to scrap the charges now.”

“I’d like to thank the people of Llanelli for signing our petition. We’ve had over 650 signatures in such a short space of time. I now sincerely hope that the council will listen to the views of the public and act accordingly. It’s time to build a brighter future for our Town Centre.

“I am also very keen to hear further from local traders and business owners about their concerns and ideas for the future of our Town Centre, please contact our office on 01554 770345 or plaidllanelli@btinternet.com.”

A hot topic!

Car parking or rather the lack of free car parking has been a contentious issue in Llanelli as the out of town shopping centre at Trostre boasts free parking and easy access.  Shop keepers in the town centre have repeatedly pointed to this as a major contributor to the town centre’s economic decline.    When free parking has been offered in the past such as at Christmas time, many shopkeepers have claimed that they’ve seen a marked upturn in both visitors and passing trade.

Do you have an opinion on this?  Is the Carmarthenshire County Council right to charge for parking?  Have your say by joining the debate on Facebook (box below).