Having pay and display parking on the streets of Westport, which was decided upon following the recent budget, is still a hotly debated issue among local town councillors, who voiced their concerns at a traffic management meeting held last Thursday.
Senior engineer Padraig Walsh outlined that traffic management in the town can be assisted by having pay and display (as recommended in a traffic report ) and having designated drop-off and pick-up points for buses and private motorists at the schools. These drop-off points would eliminate disruption at a number of junctions “due to indiscriminate parking”.
The draft parking bye-laws, which will come into effect from April 1 to October 31, have selected areas of the town core where parking will be limited to 10 minutes, one hour, and two hour parking. The Crescent area, which is a large residential area, is proposed to be designated as a two hour parking zone. Senior executive officer Martin Keating said that this is recommended to ensure that people will not park there to avoid pay and display in town.
Cllr Myles Staunton said that parking in the Crescent area should be limited to 10 minutes. The Fine Gael councillor also said that the proposed times of on street parking, those of Monday to Saturday from 9.30am to 6pm, should be changed on Saturday to 11am to allow people who have socialised in town on Friday to collect their cars. An increase in bike parking spaces, the restriction of times for deliveries to be made to the town, and not charging for residents’ permits was also suggested by the councillor.
Cllr Christy Hyland asked whether the meeting was for traffic management or whether it was “a revenue collecting” meeting. He said the council needs to be careful about introducing pay and display as it may force people to park at Tesco, where there is free parking, which will have a knock on effect on businesses in the town centre. “What’s brilliant in theory could be a load of nonsense in practice,” the councillor added.
Cllr Brendan Mulroy agreed it “is a revenue making business” and said that a supplementary budget should be made to find savings of €150,000 instead of looking for the money from pay and display.
Cllr Michael McLaughlin said that rates in the town have been reduced over the past two years and that this €150,000 “has to come from somewhere”, so pay and display is where it can be raised.
Town manager Joe Beirne said that pay and display “is a win-win” situation for business people in town as it is freeing up spaces for people who want to go shopping instead of having cars parked on the street all day. “It makes sense financially and I think we have to progress it.”
Mr Keating said that he is “very confident” that business people will return to the council and want to extend the time for which pay and display will be in operation.
The draft street parking bye-laws will be published next week, with a four week consultation process thereafter and then two weeks of dealing with the public’s submissions. The council will also deal with delivery bye-laws before April 1.
