Chamber welcomes reduced parking in Harrogate town centre to bring back shoppers safely

The chamber's chief executive Sandra Doherty said: "After a message or two from concerned retailers and friends I decided to pop into Harrogate and see what the concerns were.

"There have been three streets that I can see that have had cones put in place by North Yorkshire County Council restricting parking both sides on James Street and one side only on Albert Street and Commercial Street.

"In all cases there are signs saying it will be in place from May 16 to September 30.

"Why is it a concern you may ask? Well retailers are concerned that the reduction of parking on these three very popular streets will further discourage shoppers.

"There is also a worry that this is a pre cursor to pedestrianisation? (possibly yet another Harrogate rumour)

"Some retailers wondered why there has been no notification from North Yorkshire County Council that they were proposing to do this.

"I have had a good think about my response as a Chamber. After all we represent over 200 of Harrogate Businesses some are retailers but the majority are not.

"I hope that you will all understand that my response although in my position as Chamber CEO is also personal.

"I feel that when we are able to open the town for visitors and shoppers all be it slowly and carefully.

"None of us know how many people will come and in what numbers they will have to cue to enter the retailer of choice.

"We must do all that we can to ensure that there is space for people wait patiently, walk past or just look in windows.

"I hope that we can encourage people to come back and spend their money in our town, help our retailers to recover from the loss of income incurred over the last weeks.

"We want to firstly ensure their safety and provide an environment to encourage them to browse rather than just come and visit the one shop they had planned on.

"Shopping is after all an experience and hopefully one that many people will have missed.

"As a Chamber of Commerce – Commerce being the operative word, meaning Trade and Business we should be doing all we can to do this.

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"Looking at the cones down the streets, personally I feel thought has gone into doing something to provide a solution to a possible problem caused by too many people.

"Wouldn’t that we lovely if that happened?

"Yes certainly but staying safe is also a big concern too.

"The loss of a number of parking spaces, which, do bring revenue to North Yorkshire County Council, seems a small price to pay for this safety.

"For those retailers who worry that this parking restriction will deter shoppers – Let's see shall we?

"For me the fact that Harrogate is open and has taken care to ensure visitors safety can only be seen as a plus, so thank you North Yorkshire County Council."

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