North Kildare Chamber Submission – Pay Parking in Naas
Background
With recent high profile closures coupled with a lack of consumer confidence and a retail sector which is suffering, the Chamber put forward a submission to ease the pay parking burden which is affecting both businesses and customers in Naas. Naas Town, which has retail parks offering free parking at the majority of entrances into the town, must also now offer free parking. The Chamber are aware of the financial contribution that pay parking brings but is also aware that pay parking is also driving people away from shopping in the town.
The Chamber propose the following solution
FREE Parking til 11am Monday to Saturday.
The benefits of this proposal are as follows:
1) It will encourage parents dropping children to school in the town to stay in
the town centre rather than other out of town locations.
2) It may entice those used to using the town at a later stage in the day to
come earlier to avail of the free parking. Doing so would reduce the
demand for spaces later in the business day.
3) The offer of free parking for a two hour period would attract individuals to
shop in the town centre and spend more time in Naas than they
ordinarily would.
We envisage that the scheme would work as follows:
a) Drivers could park their cars for free for up to two hours between the
hours of 9am and 11am.
b) Parking charges will be levied at 11am. Vehicles not displaying valid
tickets after this time will incur a parking fine.
c) Drivers will not be required to display any ticket before 11am.
Such a system would be simple to enact and we would work with local businesses
to ensure that they promoted it in their premises and in their advertising
campaigns on radio and in newspapers. The Chamber will also approach private car park owners to follow suit with this proposal.
The proposal has been sent to all town councillors in Naas