I am responsible for the recent closure of high street shops...

fc123

GlennTheBaker wrote: »

Derby City Council have recently approved plans to increase parking charges across all council-owned car parks for stays up to 4 hours whilst reducing charges for stays over 4 hours. They have also introduced charges for Sunday parking - the same as Monday to Saturday. What a fabulous idea! Do these clowns have any grasp of reality? Do they really think that people will think "I know, I'll stay in the city for over 4 hours now that its a bit cheaper than it used to be"?

I have written about this before. We owned a shop in a London suburb that was used as the pilot for council parking schemes. I think it was in 1992/93.

Overnight, our T/O halved. Some businesses went down within 6 months.
The council didn't give a hoot at all.......said visitors would get used to it.

They did in the end, but it took 2 years. Fortunately, we had just started exporting to Japan so made up the loss from that. Others didn't have a second source of income...so closed down.

The company that worked the pilot based it's sums on breaking even from start up costs etc on 2 years. They went into profit after 3 months.

Then the controlled parking zones went across the country.

LittleTinker

Sapphire wrote: »

Libraries also often have a very poor choice of books.

I get all my books from car boot sales.

Beautiful books that many a time have not been touched.....and many for 10p, 20p and 50p.

Grade_A_Reject

Broken_hearted wrote: »

Our local town center like many others is dying, we very rarely go there since they introduced the parking charges. Yet they've put the parking charges up again.

The effect of which will be even less people going into town (especially if there is free parking at out of town supermarkets/retail parks) so the turnover at the shops in town decreases. Due to the reduced turnover the shops are forced to move out of town or even close down meaning less reason for the shopper to go into town as there are no longer any shops there. To make up for the loss of business rates from the shops and reduced parking revenue due to fewer shoppers the council then has to increase the parking costs again, and so the cycle continues.

As the bigger shops have moved out the void has been filled by junk shops and pound shops selling rubbish at least that's the way my local town centre is starting to look, hence why I seldom if ever go there. The council has shot itself in both feet with a single bullet.

Ember999

I'd like to know why we have to pay car park fees? Do we not already get bled dry paying exorbitant council tax to local councils? yet they want us to park our cars and 'pay' for the privilege, that's after we've paid exorbitant tax on petrol and other associated fees to owning a car and running one (but still it is cheaper than public transport!)

I don't park in any car park that you have to pay for - my local small town charges a minimum fee of £1.80 for 1 hour! - this is why I don't go there any more..I go to the next large town and park in a supermarket car park and then walk into town...(haven't been caught yet!) I think we all pay out enough!

We are now in crisis in this country because we have stopped spending. Will the Government not realise that this is because they bleed so much money out of us (taxes, we are taxed several times....then taxed on any savings!) that there is now little disposable income left? They even tax our heating bills! (I'll not start on energy companies who are raising prices to bleed us dry more and more as each year passes)

Over the last decade everything boomed because the masses were living on credit - for the same simple reason - they didn't have enough disposable income left from their salaries/wages to be able to afford anything - the Government takes all our money! So now the credit has dried up, no one is spending and they are howling about how we aren't spending? If they cut income tax and council tax (and before someone says - they can't afford to! - someone tell me how the Government could afford to give out billions to bail out banks, fight wars and all the rest of the money they have *suddenly* just given out? - they can afford it!)

This country is in a mess due to all the high taxes (anyone with serious money wisely leaves so they don't get it all stolen by the Government) and now it's coming home to roost...

I don't intend helping them get out of this recession - lower interest rates mean my mortgage costs less (about time too!) and things cost less (about time too) at least in a recession, people can afford to buy things as things get cheaper - I am benefiting from this recession - pay parking fees? no way! I pay out enough already!

The huge supermarkets are fab, I like Tesco - everything under one roof, cheaper prices, good customer service, free parking - they have gotten huge with good reason, they give us what we want.

The Government fuelled the house price rise madness - to get more stamp duty out of us - houses got more expensive, they got more money! of course they fuelled it. It is right they should bail out mortgage holders - they stopped building council houses and forced everyone to either buy or pay silly rents to greedy landlords (who often charge more rent than it would cost to buy a house!) so yes, they should help out mortgage holders, it's their fault everyone had to buy houses costing so much (so they could get more stamp duty).

*wow* the Governement reduced income tax to 15% - I remember shopping in America where sales tax is 4% - how come we get stung for even 15%, never mind 17.5%? - this Government robs us blind every which way and it is about time it stopped. This Government have not 'taken from the rich and given to the poor' like Labour historically do - they have created a society that is collapsing now....and good luck to it! as it collapses more, things will get cheaper. Am I really the only one who thinks this recession is good? It's good for me, long may it continue....and long may prices and interest rates continue to reduce! it's about time! and the sooner this mess of a Governement is out of power the better.

macaque_2

egyptiangirl wrote: »

...and it has been confirmed today by Sainsburys sales announcement.
I have stopped shopping on the high street. Parking in my local town is extortionate.
If I need a book I don't go to Waterstones...I go to the supermarket (it's cheaper)
If I need clothes I don't go to Debenhams....I go to the supermarket (it's cheaper)
If I need birthday cards I don't go to Clintons....I go to the supermarket
If I need housewares I don't go to Woolworths...I go to the supermarket.
Supermarkets have essentially won in the battle as they have free parking and offer the same( if not more) products as the high street and very often at a cheaper price.

Your comments about parking charges strike a particular chord with me. Council land is public property and, as such, should be available for use by the public at nothing more than a nominal charge.

In a nearby town, the local council have raised parking charges by over 150% in the past 18 months. As a result, I stopped shopping in the town. I did however continue using the restaurants. Six months ago, the council extended the charging period from 6 pm to 8 pm. I have now stopped using the restaurants. At 8:00 pm the car park is now virtually empty.

We already pay very high levels of council tax. Swingeing car parking charges are nothing more than double dipping.

windswept

I hate Tesco and avoid it at all costs.
I do my main food shop at Asda but buy certain things from Morrisons, such as their organic apple juice, own label squash and foil and oddly enough, febreeze, as it's always half price there. I also use Iceland in the town centre and buy a lot of clothes from Sainsburys in town, it's excellent quality, I go after 4.30, when it's free to park.
My hubby is a manager in a Chicken factory and this week has brought home 6 free range chickens for £1 each that retail at £5.50 in Tesco. We get 40 - 45 large chicken fillets for £20 and they are all fresh ( killed that day). Their workload is increasing exponentially as is the demand for chicken, as the cheapest meat. His move from the automotive industry could not have been any more well timed, people have stopped buying cars but everyone has to buy food!

nickmason

I've been thinking about my (attempted at any rate) resolute defence of councils - not least by the news today of some pretty scandalous behaviour re housing - sorry, can't remember the council concerned.

One of the key reasons that this debate was resonating in my mind was the simple observation that I agree that - everything else being equal, and funding allowing - car parks should be free. (That's not to suggest that I disagree with all fees - planning, etc - for council services). My defence of charges was because it was the only way we could fund the statutory duties, rather than a philosophical belief that it's right.

I still stand by my defence of North Dorset District Council, and I still think that much of the fault for the complaints re council tax need to be laid at central government, who define the framework of duties, responsibilities and finances for local government. I also stand by my suggestion that the finances of local government are unfair and excessively opaque/misleading, and I look to future governments to rectify this.

What I realise I can't do is defend all councils because of my experiences, parochial as they are. I can't assume that the diligence of our officers is replicated in every town hall across the country. The evidence, sadly, suggests that to do so would be daft (just as the evidence suggests that to assume them all to be incompetent or worse, as some on here have implied, would be entirely unjustified).

It is also clear that a lot needs to be done to rescue us from this pickle, and that means that no stone should be left unturned, that we should look to even the most laudable councils to see what can or needs to be done. So I'm going to listen a bit more to some of these suggestions, rather than simply defending what is being done well. I am aware that the cost of having detailed knowledge is often a lack of big picture perspective. It might be we need to realise that to do x or y well is simply not enough; that we need to be doing something else entirely.

sunrise27_2

re customer service in shops
I am fairly new to retail work so perhaps thats why its all still fresh and exciting to me ( I have a sad life lol ) but I get a real buzz from being able to help the customer
I always take them to the aisle where the item they require is and try to give them as much help and advice as I can
If I don't know the answer then I will find a member of staff that does and if somethings not out then I always offer to look in the warehouse for them
if its an older couple or someone with a buggy and the item they're looking for is upstairs then I offer to go up and get whatever it is they want

rozeepozee

If the make up manufacturers close, I guess I'll be responsible as I have just stopped buying it....

olly300

sunrise27 wrote: »

re customer service in shops
I am fairly new to retail work so perhaps thats why its all still fresh and exciting to me ( I have a sad life lol ) but I get a real buzz from being able to help the customer
I always take them to the aisle where the item they require is and try to give them as much help and advice as I can
If I don't know the answer then I will find a member of staff that does and if somethings not out then I always offer to look in the warehouse for them
if its an older couple or someone with a buggy and the item they're looking for is upstairs then I offer to go up and get whatever it is they want

No you like people and know that your job is to help people get what they want otherwise you won't have a job.

Unfortunately lots of people who work in retail don't seem to realise that if they don't help customers or are rude to customers they will go elsewhere.