09 May Free and cheaper parking in Chorley town centre
Chorley welcomes more free and cheaper parking
VISITORS to Chorley town centre can benefit from more free and cheaper parking as Chorley Council is creating dozens of new spaces in time for Christmas.
The market town is bucking the national trend with visitor numbers remaining steady but the authority is acting on concerns from traders about disruption to parking in the centre of town while preparation work takes place for the Market Walk extension.
Large parts of the development site will be opened for parking, one of the Market Walk service yards will be opened for Christmas shoppers and the trial park and ride has been extended to include Woodlands Conference Centre, on Southport Road, as well as Morrisons.
Councillor Alistair Bradley, Leader of Chorley Council, said: “Feedback from traders has been that we need to create more parking spaces to make it easier for shoppers in the run up to Christmas so that’s exactly what we’re doing.
“The park and ride has been working really well from Morrisons but as with anything like this we need to make it as convenient as possible, which is why we’ve opened up more parking for the service at the other side of town at Woodlands, which is opposite Parklands High School..
“The feedback we’ve had from people using the service is that it is really convenient, saves people driving around to find spaces and it is free all day, which means people can spend more of their money in the shops.
“We realise some people will want to park as centrally as they can so with work slowing on the extension we are opening up the development site and one of the shopping centre service yards for parking.”
The work on the Flat Iron has resulted in the loss of 235 spaces and all these will have been replaced on the Flat Iron or other central locations in close proximity by Tuesday. On top of that there are more than 100 free spaces available on the park and ride, which runs every Tuesday and Saturday, and this has now been extended to included Woodlands, on Southport Road.
“We all have an interest in Chorley town centre flourishing, and we will do everything we can to ensure that current traders are not affected detrimentally by investment and development works intended to make Chorley town centre fit for the 21st century,” said Councillor Bradley.”
“We’ve taken immediate action to address people’s concerns, we are meeting weekly with market traders, and I would urge any other town centre businesses who have any concerns to talk to us so we can see what we can do to alleviate any problems.
“We’re calling on residents to support their local traders and shop in Chorley wherever they can.”