Behind the scenes, business people, councillors and the Town Centre Initiative have been trying to persuade the top brass of the company to work for Worthing, not against it.

They have been anxious not to draw too much attention to the sky-high car parking charges – by far the highest of any town in Sussex, including Brighton and Hove – in case it drives people from coming to the town.

That's the last thing they want, particularly as shopkeepers have been hit by the credit crunch.

But there's no getting away from the fact that motorists are being hit hard in their pockets every time they try to park in Worthing.

Count the cost

Twenty miles north is Horsham, where car parks are still run by the district council.

In Swan Walk, it costs £2.10 to park for three hours, or park and ride for £1, with the bus fare to the town centre thrown in for free.

Try to park in Worthing and it will cost an outrageous £4.80 in the surface car park in High Street, or 40p for every 15 minutes in the nearby multi-storey (£4.20 for three hours).

In Chichester, the car parks are run by the city council and for three hours, it costs £3 in the short-stay car parks, or £1.50 in the long-stay.

"Outrageous"

Town centre manager Sharon Clarke says parking charges in Worthing are outrageous.

"We have been working for a very long time to try to persuade NCP to make our car park charges more competitive with other towns.

"We have explained to them that the very high charges here will drive customers away and the managers of local shops have come with us to talk to the senior managers to explain how difficult it is.

"But they have said it cost NCP £4million to bring Worthing car parks to a reasonable state and the company had to recover that sum."

The decision to hand over control of Worthing car parks to NCP was taken by a Lib Dem administration in a 10-year deal, which expires in 2013.

Repair bills

The council was faced with a huge repair bill on the ageing car parks, so it signed away the running of them, and along with it, control of charges.

What potentially made matters worse is that the county council had a general policy of charging more for on-street parking than off-street, to try to free-up parking on the roads.

Local councillors and the initiative went to County Hall and successfully pleaded for Worthing to be made a special case.

It is only here that on-street charges at meters are lower than off-street car parks.

Discount to fill

Sharon Clarke said: "We have tried to argue with NCP that is better to reduce the charges and get more people parking in the car parks.

"We strongly feel it is better to have some revenue for a parking space than none at all.

"If a parking space is empty, then you discount it and get it filled."

"That is common sense business practice and we are hoping that NCP will look at this and bring the charges here down."

Monopoly situation

Chris Spratt, chairman of Worthing's Town Centre Initiative, said it was a sad day when the contract giving NCP total control of Worthing's car parks was signed.

"They are in a monopoly situation in Worthing. There are no other car parks providing any alternative, and NCP know this and can virtually do as they please.

"We have had a meeting with their senior management in Croydon and it seems now that they are listening to us and the damage that having the highest car parking charges in Sussex is doing to Worthing."

When Mr Spratt heard (from the Herald) about Sussex Police Authority's bid for temporary planning permission to use the vacant land at the old police station as a public car park, he said: "This could be good news for Worthing."

Click here to read more about the police car park story.

But he said he didn't want the running of the car park to be handed to NCP.

"We will have to consider making a bid to run this car park and we can set charges so as to have a break-even situation," he added.

Compare prices

Churchill Square, Brighton – £3

Shoreham – £1.20

Lancing – £1.20

Crawley – £3

Arundel – £1.65

Bognor – £1.95

Littlehampton – £1.95

Rustington – £2

Eastbourne – £3.30

WORTHING – £4.20/£4.80

Read Tony Mayes' Personal View on the parking issue by clicking here.

Have your say

Do you think the high parking prices in Worthing are killing the town and driving shoppers away?

Vote yes or no in the panel to the right of the screen.

What do you think?

How has the price of off and on-street parking affected the way you shop in Worthing?

The results of the poll had 92 per cent of those taking part voting yes, and eight per cent voting no.

Share your views, comment in the space below, email the Herald or write in to Readers' Letters, Worthing Herald, Cannon House, Chatsworth Road, Worthing, BN11 1NA.
Comments are moderated before appearing on the web.


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