Gamba boss blasts Glasgow City Council parking charge hike
Glasgow Gamba seafood restaurant boss Derek Marshall has branded as potentially “ruinous” Glasgow City Council plans to hike up on-street parking charges and extend restricted hours in controlled zones until 10 pm seven days a week from April. The move was agreed in the budget after the Scottish Greens and SNP reached a deal to support the plan.
Said Derek: “The SNP and Scottish Greens just seem to be anti-business in this city. It’s like they’re doing everything in their power to throw as many spanners in the works of enterprise as possible.
“I feel that they won’t rest until they’ve hammered city centre businesses into the ground. The everyday rigours of running a business and employing people are tricky enough without disincentivising customers to take a trip into the city centre to enjoy themselves occasionally. I’m usually one for remaining upbeat, but this move really is a step too far. It feels like a stealth tax.
“This is going to hit my staff hard in the pocket too. They should be able to come to work without worrying about paying through the nose for parking and many of them can’t rely on public transport as a viable alternative either.
“It’s an extra headache nobody needs. But with no clear date to start this, I’m hoping that it’s not too late for Glasgow City Council to see sense and reverse it. I encourage everybody who works in Glasgow’s nighttime economy to sign the petition started by John Hogg calling on the council to scrap the charges. It’s at nearly 13,000 signatures already.”
The new parking rules will affect the city centre (its controlled hours are currently 8am to 6pm Monday to Sunday with an off-peak charge on a Sunday from 9.15am to 4.15pm), plus Napiershall, Woodside, Speiersgate, Hyndland, Partick, Dowanhill, Park, Yorkhill, Sandyford, Cranstonhill, Barras, Tradeston and Necropolis.
Presently, only North Kelvin/North Woodside, Belmont, Hillhead, Woodlands, Kelvingrove and Garnethill have extended hours up to 10pm daily.
The reason given by the council for the move is “to provide maximum benefit for permit holders and encourage modal shift, standardise the hours for parking charges across all zones to seven days a week, 8am to 10pm.”
It’s expected to generate an extra £2.5m in 2024 and 2025, and £2.3m in 2026/27 – a total of £7.3m over three years.
Stuart Patrick, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce chief executive said: "We continue to share the aims of the City Council in growing the city’s economy but there will be dismay at the prospect of increased parking charges and the prospect of workplace parking levy and congestion charges on top of this will make Glasgow less attractive for businesses to invest within.
"It is vital we see improvements in public transport long before considering any further taxes on car users which place even more barriers to people want to visit our city centre.
"Glasgow Chamber of Commerce has long argued for improvements in public transport but the Scottish Government budget undermined that prospect with the removal of the Bus Partnership Fund."
A poll conducted by the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce found 85 per cent of respondents "fear the decision will have a detrimental effect on their businesses, calling on the city council to reverse its plans".
Other large UK cities including Birmingham, Manchester and most London boroughs don’t have on-street parking charges until this late in the evening, but there are rumblings of it elsewhere.
Liverpool City Council is this year pressing ahead with a plan to end free parking in the city centre after 6pm despite almost 90% of respondents in a public engagement exercise being against any changes to the existing system.
Additional parking changes set to come into effect from April in Glasgow include a rise in multi-story car park parking fees and an increase in off-street surface car park charges.
By Jason Caddy