Attorney general blasts Hampshire County Council in furious row over free parking in Fareham

Fareham MP Suella Braverman has lashed out at the authority in a furious row of words over the parking situation in the town centre, saying the council had shown ‘complete disregard’ for residents and businesses.

The Tory cabinet minister’s comments come as an online petition backed by residents and borough councillors was launched.

Currently, shoppers can park in High Street for 40 minutes at no charge. But new charges, set to be introduced on March 14, would slash that to just 20 minutes.

Speaking to The News, Mrs Braverman said: ‘I am very disheartened to see that Hampshire County Council has upheld their decision to enforce new parking restrictions and charges in our town centre.

‘As you already know, I strongly objected to this proposal along with the council leader and the Fareham East town centre councillor.

‘This decision from Hampshire County Council has shown a complete lack of regard for the needs of Fareham residents.

‘This additional cost, brought on by the charge, will ultimately deter many customers from visiting and supporting our high street shops.

‘This decision will be detrimental for the many independent shops, small business owners and the employees who work for them.’

Mrs Braverman said that she had written to the county council in November to argue why the proposal must not go ahead.

The her view, the Tory MP feared that by reducing free parking, it impact trade in the town when ‘our high street shops need supporting now more than ever due to the impact of the pandemic’.

‘Many of the shops in Fareham’s town centre are small independent businesses such as cafés, hairdressers, bakers, picture framers and many other retailers,’ she added. ‘Visiting the forementioned shops is often a brief one, the addition of a parking charge for such a trip will deter many customers.’

Fareham Borough Councillor Tom Davies added: ‘I have argued to anyone that will listen that the 40 minutes of free parking absolutely needed to be retained to help our local independent shops

‘I am saddened that many of our local shops may now suffer as a result of a decision made over in Winchester.

‘Hampshire County has now made a string of poor decisions affecting our Borough, from bus lanes to road closures to parking charges, it's become clear those at the top of Hampshire County Council do not understand or do not care about the needs of Fareham and our residents.’

Councillor Russell Oppenheimer, the county council’s executive member for highways operations, said: ‘In June 2021, on behalf of the county council, I agreed a recommendation to develop on-street pay and display parking in a number of towns in the county and other non-retail areas including sea-front locations and areas popular with visitors. Charging for parking will help to manage the demand for parking as it encourages people to abide by the time restrictions they have paid for, moving on before expiry and, thereby, freeing up parking for other users.

‘The money generated will help to avoid a draw on highways maintenance funding, which has been needed previously to fund enforcement of on-street parking regulations. ‘Pay and display’ schemes are becoming the norm in the majority of cities, towns and larger villages across the UK.

The introduction of modest charges will also help complement the district and borough council managed off-street car parks, which are also usually subject to parking charges. However, we listened to the views expressed by local people and have amended the original proposals for Fareham High Street to include an initial free period of parking. This change will allow short duration stops, of up to 20 minutes, to be made without the need to pay for parking. On-street parking charges have been set at £1 per hour and we are increasing the maximum stay from 40 minutes to one hour.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

You can subscribe here for unlimited access to our online coverage, including Pompey, with 70 per cent fewer adverts for less than 20p a day.