Fears Horsham shops will be hit hard by reintroduction of parking charges

Payments were originally suspended in all car parks owned by the council at the start of lockdown - but the council has now announced that charges will resume from Monday (June 15) when many non-essential shops are allowed to reopen following the easing of restrictions.

However the news has dismayed many people in Horsham who say that the resumption of parking charges will deter many from visiting the town’s shops.They say the council should wait until the shops are back trading fully.

John Bartley posted on the County Times Facebook page: “They need to allow the shops the recover before they do this - people’s shopping habits will have fundamentally changed during lockdown so shops in the town centre will already be facing an uphill battle.”

Andrew Walker added: “Shops are already under immense pressure and I can see many closing within weeks of opening due to lack of customer spend. Then the council will have to deal with more empty shop units and a drop in their revenue from that. How narrow minded do you have to be?

“The High Street has been struggling for years due to changes in consumer spending habits and this will only get worse. Let’s encourage people to shop in retail rather than putting barriers in their way.”

Ali Grinsted said: “I agree with most here in that it should be chargeable again but only when all shops are open again. The few places that are open want every chance for people to visit, so keeping the car parks free still for the short term will help this.”

Jayne Smith added: “Free car parking would go a small way to encouraging people back into town.”

Janis Randall posted: “Far too soon for commencing charges. I could get an hour’s parking and spend the majority of that time queuing to even get in a shop.”

Toby Gray said: “Surely the town centre shops need as much help as possible to stop them going under and closing! This is simply going to do the opposite, shame on HDC.”

The council says it has lost around £750,000 a month in revenue since it lifted charges.

See also Parking charges to resume in Horsham

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.