Caerphilly Observer
Member Sign in Manage Membership
Become a Member - no ads
Menu
  • News
    • Senedd
    • Business
    • Newport
    • Opinion
  • Sport
    • Rugby union
    • Football
  • Membership & Subscriptions
  • Notices
  • Obituaries
  • About
    • Advertise
  • Sponsored Content
Menu

Calls for free parking to be extended

News | Rhys Williams | Published: 16:43, Friday October 16th, 2020.
Last updated: 16:46, Friday October 16th, 2020

Support quality, independent, local journalism…that matters

From just £1 a month you can help fund our work – and use our website without adverts. Become a member today

Twyn car park, Caerphilly town centre

Caerphilly County Borough Council is facing calls to extend free car parking for a further six months.

In June, the council made all council-owned car parks in the borough free to use until the end of the year, in an attempt to support businesses that had been hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Plaid Cymru group leader, Councillor Colin Mann, has put forward a motion calling for the extension and said the pandemic has left businesses in the borough “struggling for survival”.

Cllr Mann, who represents the Llanbradach ward, said: “The council needs to extend free parking for the first half of 2021 to encourage people to come back into our town centres and help traders as they try to recover from this crisis.

“The first few months of any year are normally the most difficult for local traders. 

“I am contacting the Independent councillors and the ruling Labour group to ask them to support our motion.”

Welsh councils to get powers to fine for parking on pavements

Cllr Mann said it “could literally be the difference between our local businesses having a bright future or no future at all”.

Blackwood’s independent councillor Kevin Etheridge has said the independent group will support the motion.

A cross-party council task group has been meeting to discuss the future of car parking charges in the borough, chaired by Llanbradach ward councillor Rob Gough.

Cllr Gough said the Car Parks Task and Finish Group, which was set up in 2017 to look at car parking in the borough, has been working on a review, which will be finalised this month and debated by a joint-scrutiny committee, made up of councillors.


Sign-up to our daily newsletter


The joint-scrutiny committee will then decide whether to recommend the review and put it to the council cabinet, who have the power to enact recommendations made in the review.

Cllr John Ridgewell, cabinet member for environment and infrastructure, said: “This council made the decision to waive car parking charges at the start of the pandemic, when many other local councils chose not to.

“There is a cost associated with offering free parking, so everything will need to be considered in the round. However, I feel it’s important that the cross-party Task and Finish Group should be allowed to reach their conclusions without being unduly influenced by a notice of motion.”

A council spokesperson said: “We appreciate that we are still very much in the response phase of the pandemic and we are doing all that we can as an authority to support our community, in particular the business community, to survive and recover from the effects of Covid-19.

“We are working closely with our retailers as part of a Christmas campaign to encourage residents to shop local. We are committed to providing free parking in the town centres for the remainder of 2020 with the view that this will be reviewed by the cross-party task and finish group in December.”

Support quality, independent, local journalism…that matters

From just £1 a month you can help fund our work – and use our website without adverts.

Become a member today

Google

Latest News

  • Users and staff at the Sense Cymru hub in Caerphilly, alongside members of the Caerphilly Lions Club
    Disability centre planning pantomime trip after receiving £1,000 donationFriday, October 10, 2025
  • Rajesh Nair, chief executive of Tata Steel UK
    Tata Steel calls for ‘level-playing field’ amid EU plans to slash importsFriday, October 10, 2025
  • Blackwood to host Gwent Poppy Appeal launchFriday, October 10, 2025
  • The Senghenydd National Mining Memorial
    Service to be held to mark 112th anniversary of Senghenydd Mining DisasterThursday, October 9, 2025
  • Praise for home adaptation service which helped 1,000 patients leave hospital earlierThursday, October 9, 2025
  • Labour MS Lee Waters
    Senedd ‘fobbed off’ by ministers on homelessness crisisThursday, October 9, 2025

Find out how the communities of Caerphilly County Borough get their names

Caerphilly

Legal & Public Notices

  • Caerphilly County Borough Council public noticesThursday, October 2, 2025
  • Notice of application for a premises licence: Hanbury Road, BargoedThursday, September 25, 2025
  • Notice of application for a variation of a premises licence: Pontygwindy Industrial EstateThursday, September 18, 2025
  • Caerphilly County Borough Council public noticesThursday, September 18, 2025
© 2009-2024 Caerphilly Media Ltd, Caerphilly Miners Centre for the Community Watford Road Caerphilly, CF83 1BJ. Incorporated in Wales No. 07604006.