Majority don’t want an end to free parking in Peebles, survey finds

The majority of people in Peebles are opposed to the end to free parking in the town, a new survey indicates.

Members of Peebles Parking Working Group have been meeting to consult on parking provision in the town.

There has been moves towards unifying the parking regimes at the town’s car parks – some of which are free and others where fees apply.

The introduction of charging at all town car parks was among the suggestions on the consultation agenda.

But when members meet on Wednesday, August 9, they will receive the results of a survey which indicates support for the retention of free parking.

There were 415 responses to the survey with the majority of participants (81.9 per cent) being residents of the town.

It found that 64.34 per cent of participants were not in favour of the introduction of a standardised charging regime.

Respondents were split 50/50 on whether parking charges should be introduced in the Edinburgh Road car park.

But there was limited support for charges at Kingsmeadows (27.71 per cent) and Neidpath (20.24 per cent).

Additionally, 59.28 per cent were in favour of the bus stop remaining on Eastgate and 55.42 per cent wanted the taxi rank to remain at Eastgate also.

One respondent said: “Town centres are dying across the UK. It’s is well known that restrictions on parking are a major factor for this.

“Dare to not follow the herd by not introducing or increasing parking charges. We have a really good thing going here, please don’t spoil it for the sake of a few whingeing people.”

Another added: “This is Peebles and I live here so why should I have to pay even more than I do already.

“If, as I suspect, you will ignore responses like this then you should implement scanned access via car registration number in all car parks with barriers at the entrances and exits.

“In which case you could, with cars registered to owners in Peebles, make no charge for these.”