People have just hours left to have their say on plans to abolish free evening parking in Newcastle city centre.
Newcastle City Council is consulting on plans to extend city centre parking charges to 10pm every night. This will include scrapping the Alive After Five offer which has allowed free parking in a number of city centre car parks after 5pm since 2010 in a bid to encourage more visitors into the city.
The proposals also include plans to remove the £3 all day parking charge on a Sunday within the core city centre, as well as extend the charging hours during which parking charges are payable at Manors and Quayside Multi-Storey car parks from 8am to 5pm to 8am to 6pm.
Read more: Plan to axe free evening parking in Newcastle city centre 'absurdly destructive', arts boss claims
Over 600 participants have already had their say on the proposed changes. And people have until Wednesday, April 13, to have their say before consultations end.
City bosses say that the changes are designed to "manage and respond to changing demand" for spaces, as well as drive to discourage car journeys and cut down on air pollution. However, Mike Tilley, director of the Newcastle Arts Centre on Westgate Road, has branded the plans "an absurdly destructive exercise" and "little more than an ill-considered tax on the life and economy of the city centre".
Speaking to ChronicleLive, he said: "Newcastle city should be welcoming people and trade to this regional centre not creating barriers to access and strangling existing business which is its lifeblood. The widely acknowledged business success of the 'Alive After Five' off-peak free parking scheme is to be scrapped at the cost of a loss of trade that will far exceed the forecast income from parking charges."
When the proposals first came to light last November, city centre business chief Stephen Patterson said they were "not designed to reduce support for businesses".
He added: "This is about delivering a better experience and supporting the retail and business community to create the right environment for long-term growth". The chief executive of city centre business improvement district company NE1 Ltd also backed the council's move to "refocus its efforts on reducing city centre pollution".
Newcastle City Council have confirmed that any objections will be considered before a final decision is made. Anyone who wishes to have their say on the proposals can do so via this link.
