Spendlove Car Park (Roads)

Thu 23 Oct, 21:47

It appears that our councillors favour a minority of residents in the centre of Charlbury rather than businesses and the majority of residents However the Bull seems to have been allowed to reduce the 12 spaces required by its planning permission to 8 Maybe our local councillors at all levels would like to explain these decisions to their electorate

Thu 23 Oct, 21:41 (last edited on Fri 24 Oct, 06:58)

Absolutely Suzi. I wasted a Friday evening at the Town Council Annual meeting back in April, and raised the the issue of parking for businesses and tradesmen in central Charlbury, and the best I got from our councillors was a rolling of their eyes as if I’m a boring bastard, which I am of course. 😂 So here we are. 

As for Rod’s comments about the Bull being turned into housing, I was part of the campaign that stopped that. Back in the day, the Flynn's ran it as a brilliant Inn, and when Charlie took it over he did the same. Unfortunately the current owners reduced the size of the car park, supported by our councillors, bless them, leaving us with an even bigger parking problem in the centre of Charlbury and buses struggling to get through. 

Thu 23 Oct, 19:46

Can anyone explain why businesses in Charlbury can't be given an allocation of parking permits? Currently, they are mostly having to park in the Spendlove car park which is now nearly always full. This is causing difficulties for users of the Co-op, community centre, vets, dentist and GP surgery. However, changing length of stays at Spendlove as a solution seems to be unfair on businesses.  There needs to be a rethink or parking permits should be done away with completely in my opinion. 

Thu 23 Oct, 18:33 (last edited on Fri 24 Oct, 10:31)

A case surely, of you can't please all of the people all of the time.  But isn't it not so much how you divide the cake as the size of it in the first place?

As I pointed out under the 'parking impacting local businesses' thread, Charlbury is designated under…

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Thu 23 Oct, 14:53

Shifts in the co-op vary from 4-8 hrs and most of the staff drive in from outside Charlbury. 

Thu 23 Oct, 14:40

If you click on the link for carparks in the News Section, it's clear that for Burford and Woodstock the standard time is 4 hours, not 3. 

I'm not sure why it's felt that Charlbury residents and workers need less than 4 hours as standard. It's not really enough time to have a meal, a drink or, indeed, attend a function  or go for a longish walk. I thought we were supposed to be a "Walkers are Welcome" town.

I strongly agree with Simon Harley's comments about damage to local businesses and employment opportunities. The standard length for a shift in the Co-op seems to be 8 hours, and needing to keep popping out to look for vacant parking spaces is not exactly attractive to those wondering whether or not to apply for jobs in Charlbury.

Only 10 permits for more than 3 hours is disastrous: for businesses, workers; also for Charlbury residents who don't live within the residential zone, let alone for visitors and and residents of nearby towns. And as I keep pointing out, many people with mobility problems don't qualify for blue badge parking. Only a few people who live in the very centre of Charlbury qualify for residential parking privileges. 

Thu 23 Oct, 12:49

another ridiculous scheme by clueless councils. 

I have objected

Thu 23 Oct, 12:42

I wonder how much these parking restrictions will adversely effect hire of the Memorial Hall?  A limit of 10 8 hour maximum bays will greatly reduce the attractiveness of using the hall. When I have hired the hall for functions, it has been for more than 3 hours . 

Wed 22 Oct, 16:21

Well it looks like the rumours were partially correct. WODC are proposing that we have no 12 hour parking, 10 x 8 hour parking bays, 24 x 3 hour parking bays, 3 x disabled bays and 3 parent and child spaces. 

Is there an agenda somewhere to finish off all of the business in Charlbury that does not have its own parking? Our staff at the nursery work mostly 10 hour days. If this does gets introduced, all of those that were currently using the Spendlove will be having to park elsewhere in the town, quite likely outside of your house, or worse, will be looking for work elsewhere which will result in our business closing. This will be the same for CO-OP staff, pub staff, the hair dressers beauticians etc.

OCC kindly removed the majority of the on street parking for workers, and now WODC is looking at removing the majority of parking that is of use to workers in the Spendlove carpark. 

What I really find annoying is that this comment was made by Liz on this post. "Plus I am not sure where the idea that parking at the Spendlove will be restricted to 3 hours has come from. It may be that we end up with more that the current number of restricted spaces for people wanting to access the Co-op etc, but that will only happen after a review is undertaken. At the moment a 3 hour parking restriction is just speculation." If I had heard the rumour, surely she must have been kept in the loop.

I am expecting a lot of support from people who will be in favour of these proposals as it will enable them to pop to the shop, beauticians, cafe etc. but if the workers cannot park, surely there will be no business to visit?

Thu 19 Jun, 16:15

Liz, I'm relieved to know that the 3 hr restriction is just speculation. Thanks for that information. 

I was told that the Cricket Club is already addressing the issues of security, payment etc with a parking company, but I can't vouch for the accuracy of my information. It would be great if it worked out, although I recognise that it might take longer to bring in than I was led to believe, and that there may be difficulties (including flooding)  that have yet to be properly addressed. 

There are certainly a number of residents-only parking places in town that are unused in daytime, even if  the spaces in Market Street are already shared spaces. Perhaps lengthening the time that non-residents can park in Sheep Street and Market Street would mean that they are used more effectively. I now see that non-residents can park there for 1 hr, but that's really not long enough to enjoy the Deli and other lunchtime venues, do some shopping, go to Corner House, partake in some community activities, etc etc. 

 Just opening up The Playing Close parking spaces to short-term non-residential parking would be extremely helpful. These spaces often seem unused and, as I said (and also said in my original response to the survey), they aren't really needed for the residents of the retirement properties on The Playing Close. 

As these spaces are so near to the Coop, this would also help people like Victoria Chan who come from outside Charlbury but need to use our facilities. Visitors are probably less likely than locals to know where additional on-street parking might be found. 

Thu 19 Jun, 13:47 (last edited on Thu 19 Jun, 14:00)

There are already shared parking spaces on Market Street

There been conversations with the cricket club about using their land for parking but that would have to be managed by them, as Apcoa and GWR are not willing to manage that for them, so they would have to have some kind of a payment system of their own, as well as security.  Also the land that is available tends to flood so is not ideal.  There has also been some discussion with Cornbury about whether there might be some land available on the other side of the station, but that hasn't got anywhere. This is not an easy problem to solve.

Plus I am not sure where the idea that parking at the Spendlove will be restricted to 3 hours has come from.  It may be that we end up with more that the current number of restricted spaces for people wanting to access the Co-op etc, but that will only happen after a review is undertaken.  At the moment a 3 hour parking restriction is just speculation.

Thu 19 Jun, 09:17 (last edited on Thu 19 Jun, 09:19)

I don't believe that the current problems with the Spendlove Car Park should be solved by introducing a maximum 3 hour stay. As Simon Hartley says, that would be particularly harmful to local businesses. It would also further discriminate against Charlbury residents who have mobility issues, but who don't live in the centre of town and also don't qualify for blue badge parking.

Before contemplating a 3 hr parking limit, we need an accurate assessment of how many on-street Residents Only Parking Places are left unused during the day. Also an assessment of how many of those who live in the central area didn't apply for a Resident's Parking Permit, and perhaps also why they weren't interested. I think very few of those living on the Playing Close applied, for example, since each of the Cognatum Estates' properties has its own garage, as well as additional parking on private land.

My own impression is that there are plenty of empty Residents Only parking spaces during the day. I most often notice them in Market Street. Converting some of those spaces to shared parking spaces, allowing residents to park there for longer periods of time, but allowing non-residents to park for an hour or two, like the ones at the top of Church Street, would be a useful initial change. Allowing businesses to apply for Residents Only parking places would probably also help free up spaces at Spendlove.

I understand that the Cricket Club is fairly advanced in its plans to provide additional parking near the station. For commuters and train users at least, that would be more convenient than parking at the Coop, although cost factors also have to be added in of course. Some commuters are just reluctant to pay a daily fee to park at or near the station, even when parking is available. 

Let's try these solutions before going down the 3hr-only route.

Wed 18 Jun, 17:52

Liz, I trust that they will consider all of the businesses in the town who need all day parking for their staff before they make any decisions. The permit parking which was introduced did not cause us as many problems as we had feared, namely due to us being able to use the Spendlove car park. If this facility is removed, I am not sure what viable options we will have left. 

Maybe OCC, WODC and the residents of Charlbury dont want successful businesses in the town? Thats currently what it feels like!

Wed 18 Jun, 15:54 (last edited on Wed 18 Jun, 15:59)

The Spendlove car park belongs to WODC,  and they will be reviewing the parking arrangements as they think it may be possible to rearrange and provide more spaces.  Along with that they will be reviewing the number of short term and long term spaces needed.

There will also be a review of the CPZ, and there may need to be some adjustments made to it to accommodate for example people who need to be able to park close to the cemetery, which at the moment is not possible

Wed 18 Jun, 11:43

Maybe businesses should be able to apply for permits, yes. I rarely drive / park in the town centre so I don't really know how much the parking has changed but friends who live centrally are extremely grateful to be able to park near their homes. I think the current parking regime was due for a review after 6 months? Ask Liz Leffman, I am sure the County would consider your and all others' views. I am sure there will be tweaks needed to where there are 3 hours no return and where there's residents' parking only. 

For commuters Grammar School Hill is close and a nice chance to stretch legs after a drive. 

WRT the field (site of potential parking) that you cross to access the Cricket Club, worth noting this land belongs to Cornbury Estate and I think the Cricket Club leases its pitches from Cornbury too. So it'd be Lord R and his team the council or businesses would need to approach if that were wanted, not the Cricket Club.  

Good luck!

Mon 16 Jun, 17:06

The Town Council did a survey in the car park before the permit parking was introduced and stated that there was no parking problem there. If there is now a problem, it must have been caused by the introduction parking permits? I cannot see that the correct solution is to limit parking even further. Maybe businesses should be able apply for permits for parking on the street? There is normally plenty of room during the day. This would potentially free up alot of space in the car park. I did email OCC asking this question, but did not receive any reply.

Mon 16 Jun, 15:51

I don’t know anyone in Charlbury with a problem with commuters (but if anyone does, I guess they can start a thread about it in the ‘Roads’ section).

However, I do I know a convenience store that is no longer very convenient because the car park next to it is always full during the day. I hadn’t even thought of visitors like Victoria being unable to access the town centre, I was thinking of more less-mobile locals, but she makes a good point. Charlbury is classed as a ‘rural service centre’ so it needs to be accessible to people in nearby hamlets and villages too.

It is true that businesses will not exist if workers can’t get to work, but the other side of that coin is that businesses will not exist if customers can’t access them.

I thought it was more likely that the solution to relieving pressure on the car parking in the town lay with business owners/commuters than with the businesses’ customers. Perhaps I am wrong.

PS I agree some hostelry workers might not want to walk to the Cricket ground in the dead of winter. I was just trying to make a helpful suggestion for where some workers could park if the Spendlove car park were limited to short stays, if the Cricket club was happy to rent the space, etc. I am sure other solutions are available.

Mon 16 Jun, 14:40

This is great. We moved from Charlbury to a nearby village a few years ago, but still come to Charlbury for the library, GP, Dentist, Co-op, etc. Recently due to the lack of parking, I have stopped coming to Charlbury. There must be others in my position. 

I believe the GP, library, Dentist, Vet, Co-op, chemist etc. in Charlbury are not meant to only serve people within walking distance. In fact, the businesses will probably suffer without 'outsiders', and the council will probably not be able to justify the GP / library etc. funding. 

This new restriction will hopefully ensure that there will be parking space for people who need to use these services. I'm glad something is being done about this situation.

Mon 16 Jun, 12:55

Some Charlbury residents have a problem with commuters, but without commuters, there will be no business open in Charlbury. Why should the staff of the CO-OP have to park at the cricket club and walk to the shop (will be great fun in winter at 10pm in the evening, in the rain and dark because the street lights have been turned off) when there is a perfectly good car park next to the shop? 

Mon 16 Jun, 12:15

I think it's a good idea. Many older/infirm people whose mobility is poor and who  rely on driving are struggling to get to the Coop/chemist because the Spendlove car park is full due to commuter parking. The car park isn't working as it used to or should do. 

If the restriction does come in, can employers look at options for all-day parking for employees further afield – maybe literally a field, like the one outside the Cricket Club which is accessible 95% of the year when there's no floodwater? This is rarely used on weekdays so would be fine for Mon-Fri employees, thought not all (e.g. Bull/Bell employees who need to drive from out of town and who work weekends when there is a cricket match)? I am sure there are other possible solutions too.

Mon 16 Jun, 11:56

I have heard a rumour that the Spendlove Car Park (CO-OP) is going to have a 3 hour maximum stay applied. Has anyone else heard anything? Surely they cannot be seriously considering this on top of all of the other on street parking restrictions that have been recently bought in?