Rise in parkingfines ‘will drive trade away’

Speaking about the increase in fees, Mr Crawford (right) said: “Last week our MLAs voted to increase parking fines by a whopping 50% from £60 to £90. Fines paid within the statutory period will go up from £30 to £45.

“At the moment the provision of car parking facilities costs the DRD £7m and the Department admit that the increased fines have more to do with reducing that deficit than improving traffic flow.

“In fact that increase may well be counter productive in making city and town centres more hostile to the shoppers who keep firms in business.”

He continued: “Hardly a week passes in Lisburn without a city centre business either closing or moving away and the Department may well find that the increased revenue will not make up for the lost rates revenue incurred by this further tax increase.

“Clearly the MLAs who passed this motion had little concern for our city centre businesses at heart,” Mr Crawford said. “Retailers are telling me of customers putting a purchase on hold as they are afraid of returning late to their car and finding themselves penalised.

“There is also an equality issue here as there is no uniform rate for parking charges in the DRD car parks and Lisburn motorists are subsidising car parking in other parts of the Province.

“Those who park in such a manner as to create traffic flow should rightly be penalised. But is it fair that a motorist a short distance over a white line, or who through spending money in our businesses arrives a few minutes late should be fined the same amount?”

Mr Crawford added: “The DRD has no or little interest in traffic flow as it has sat on the bottleneck problems at the bottom of Chapel Hill, reluctant to take action to solve that major problem.

“People can throw litter all over our streets safe in the knowledge that the Council will take no action against them and some criminal offences attract lesser punishment.

“This is purely another ‘milk the motorist’ initiative without any concern for the effect on city centre businesses and given the problems faced by our city centre economy, it beggars belief that MLAs let this measure through.”