As part of the councils cost cutting and finance raising that it has had to do to help combat the cuts that have been imposed by central government the issue of charging for parking at Fenton Manor and Dimensions has been raised. This was originally brought forward to the economic development committee that i sat on last year and through scrutiny by myself and others it was delayed until this year actually coming into force at the start of June.
As part of my scrutiny within the committee and also individually through discussions with council officers i raised the following points…
• Have we thought through the impact this will have on users of the facilities? The football pitches at Dimensions, the gymnastics at Fenton Manor, the swimmers, the gym users and other patrons. What if people are that annoyed with the charges that they join other local private facilities such as private gyms and places like goals and Power league.
• Is this not a double increase? Having already been faced with price rises on things like football pitches we are being punished twice for using the facilities sometimes for as little as an hour. For example a typical game at dimensions will cost someone £3 then another 25% to park on the car park and if they forget then its a £30 fine!
• What is the impact going to be on the local roads that people will use to avoid the charges, Scotia road is a busy road already with its parking problems especially on match days at vale. More parking congestion, more frustration to local residents who cant park outside their own house and more road traffic accidents.
Some of the responses that came back include…
• We can raise a substantial figure from introduction of car parking charges.
• Some of this will be used as part of the sports development plan of the city improving local football pitches and other sporting facilities.
I should probably at this point declare an interest being as i do play football at dimensions on a regular basis, my son plays there twice a week and he lives just yards away on scotia road. but im less concerned about how the charges will effect me im more concerned about the older chaps those who are 40, 50 sometimes even nearly 60! who come for a kick about once a week in an informal way with a group of lads. For these this is possibly the only form of exercise and enjoyment they actually get each week as they hang on to their youthfulness and ability to play the game they love and have loved probably since the age of 5!
Im also concerned about the safety of my children on scotia road and by Dimensions due to the increases in congestion. My kids often play unsupervised with their friends in and around dimensions, the road which will see a big increase that runs parallel to Scotia road (its name escapes me but could be Barber street) has cars parked close together with the possibility of kids running out high. If drivers are searching around looking for car parking spaces frustrated because they have realised and have got to pay and running late for their game then the danger of a kid getting knocked over will be far greater.
While i back and support council officers in making changes which they believe will generate more income for the council and applaude innovation in this instance i predict the following -
• A decrease in usage at Fenton Manor & Dimensions and more business to private companies such as Total Fitness, Goals & Power league who do not charge for parking and their prices are not to different to our policy.
• A decrease on our residents partaking in general physical activity and all the wider social benefits that brings to our community.
• A decrease on financial profits that Dimensions and Fenton manor generates through less traffic and the profits it makes through its cafe ect.
• A decrease in road safety, an increase in congestion and anger from residents on this matter.
To close i hope im wrong, i hope we can make lots of profits that can be ploughed back into improving sports facilities and no child is hurt by a road accident. I hope the officers have got this one right but will be asking for figures over the next 6 months to track the stats month on month and against last year, that way if we have got it wrong we can change our strategy quickly!
There is of course one way to make this money and not effect all users…Introduce £5 parking for vale games, the money we would make on 24 games a year would come pretty close to how much dimensions would make all year. This idea was discounted by the officers however despite me thinking its a pretty good one, in fact why dont we do it aswell if we are going to bring in charges we may aswell do it properly!
Id be interested to hear of your opinions email me matt.wilcox@stoke.gov.uk or tweet me @mattwilcoxstoke
Update – 8 June 2011
Interestingly this article featured in the sentinel just days after charges were introduced….
