Here's an idea - why not have free parking in Bicester Town Centre for periods leading up to Christmas? This year has been a hard trading year for some of our local businesses and it would be a nice little incentive to encourage shoppers into the town centre.
After all, other towns are doing just this including Aylesbury, Witney and Buckingham which is in fact free all the time. On top of this shoppers can park for free at Bicester Village and Wyvale which all helps to discourage people from visiting the town centre.
I know the Council are concerned about the loss of revenue that the car parks bring in, but have not the prices been increased recently, presumably bringing in more income which was not there before? In addition we are unable to pass our unused tickets on to our fellow parkers, this must have increased income as well?
How about offering free parking for the whole of December in the Cattle Market Car Park? This seems to be rarely used and therefore the loss of income would be minimal. The upsides would be
- it might actually help raise awareness that the car park exists!
- help regular visitors get used to using it when we eventually start the new Crown Walk Development and lose spaces for some time!
- it would free up spaces in the other car parks making it easier for visitors to park
- great publicity for the town!
I understand that this idea has been put forward before but refused by the Cherwell DC.
If you think this would be a good idea to support our town, why not say so here or lobby/ send an email to Cherwell DC and let them know what you think!
