On-street pay and display charges could be coming to an 'appropriate' Lancashire town near you

The authority’s deputy leader, Alan Vincent, made the pledge after concerns were raised by some second-tier authorities and the Labour opposition group at County Hall over the resurrection of plans that were abandoned amid widespread discontent five years ago.

A meeting of the county council’s scrutiny management committee on Tuesday heard that consideration was being given to rolling out pay and display charging in as-yet-unspecified places where roadside parking is currently free.

Deputy Labour group leader Lorraine Beavers said that councillors across the political divide had “applauded” the scrapping of the idea when it was last mooted, because they “didn’t want these machines in our town centres”.

Cabinet member for highways and transport Rupert Swarbrick acknowledged that it was “a very contentious issue” – and, by the time of the authority’s cabinet meeting 48 hours later, County Cllr Vincent declared that the policy had been “paused”.

The previous iteration of the plans had suggested more than a dozen areas as possible locations for pay and display charging to be introduced – namely, Burnley, Carnforth, Chorley, Cleveleys, Clitheroe, Colne, Great Harwood, Lytham, Ormskirk, Nelson, Padiham, Poulton and Whalley.

The prospect sparked a 2,500-signature petition from East Lancashire areas alone, the presentation of which caused ructions at a cabinet meeting where the matter was on the agenda in December 2018.

Back then, as now, the only parts of the county council area where on-street car parking has to be paid for is on selected roads in Preston and Lancaster city centres. Off-street car parks, where charging is the norm, are usually operated by or on behalf of Lancashire’s dozen district councils.

County Cllr Vincent said that he had received “pleas” from the leaders of Fylde, Wyre and Ribble Valley councils “to consult with them before taking any further action”.

He added: “We are therefore intending to ask all districts…[for] their views on whether any sites in their [areas] should be totally excluded from any fresh metres being put in and also if there are any [places]… which they feel might actually benefit from it – for example, where a parking metre encourages people not to park all day long in a shopping centre, which gives some churn and…more footfall.

“We will report back to cabinet after …an analysis has been made [and] before any formal proposals are put forward for additional parking metres – and certainly prior to the public consultation taking place.

“As always, we will listen to what people are saying…and if we can come to an agreement about where…if any[where], there will be parking metres that are appropriate, then we will bring back proposals,” County Cllr Vincent said.

County Cllr Beavers welcomed the consultation with district leaders, but said she could “imagine” what their response will be – ”and it won’t be good,” she added.

Labour group leader Azhar Ali said that any expansion of pay and display charging risked undermining fragile local economies.

“The government’s put a lot of money into town deals [and]…levelling up funding – [and] there [are] many town centres that are starting to recover. Others are still struggling – and these measures would have really hit our towns and villages hard,” he suggested.