AN urgent review of parking in Denbighshire’s coastal towns needs to take place according to Vale of Clwyd MP Chris Ruane.
Parking charges, fines, free parking provision, blue badge and coach parking in Rhyl and Prestatyn are among those issues Mr Ruane would like Denbighshire County Council to consider in the review to ensure businesses aren’t suffering.
Under a new system introduced by the local authority beachside car parks in Rhyl and Prestatyn are now twice as expensive as other areas of the county.
Rhyl with a population of 27,000 has one small free car park out of 11 while Corwen, population 1,300, has two free and one paying car park.
And not only does the seaside town have the highest car parking charges it is the only town to have on street car parking charges next to its main attraction the beach whereas Ruthin’s main attraction - the Craft Centre - has 79 free car parking spaces and a coach park.
Despite being the largest town in the county and the second largest in North Wales, Rhyl only has a small, unsigned coach park, which is only open for six months each year.
Some smaller rural towns like Llangollen, Ruthin and Corwen all have year round coach parks while others Rhuddlan, St Asaph and Denbigh have none.
Over the past five years there has been a drop of 18.3 per cent in the number of day visitors, 24.5 per cent drop in shopping revenue and a 23.8 per cent drop in food and drink revenue equating to an £11.7 million drop in revenue in the coastal area.
“In May Rhyl traders asked me to get a review of new on street parking restrictions in Rhyl and I pushed for this with Denbighshire,” said Mr Ruane.
“This was carried out, yet five months on the results still haven’t been made public.
“I have met with senior representatives of the county to put my case and progress is being made a new coach park is planned for Rhyl, but I am asking for a full review with the guiding principle of not what is good policy for raising revenue but what is good policy for promoting business, commerce or tourism to ensure that charges and restrictions are set at one level and one level only and it is at a rate that will maximise the benefits for the local traders and the local economy.
“This is not the case currently, car parking revenues are down and Denbighshire is in danger of killing the goose that laid the golden egg.”
A spokeswoman for Denbighshire County Council: “A parking review is currently underway and initial amendments have now been sent to Denbighshire's legal department.
“These will be processed and then residents and other interested parties will be able to add their views and these will be taken into consideration.
“Provision has been made for a coach park on East Parade and the new parking regulations in the town have improved traffic flow and we have seen a decrease in the amount of parking penalty tickets being issued.
“This would indicate that there is better provision for people to load and unload in the designated bays as well as keeping the traffic flowing freely through the town centre.”