Shoppers in for shock.

From next Monday the facility to park on street in Southport for 30 minutes is being withdrawn at present this costs 70p. The minimum from Monday will be 1 hour and this will cost £1.50 meaning that anyone nipping into town will be faced with an increase of 80p.

The table below shows the new charges coming into force.

Charges will also be applied in zones were there was no charge on Sundays.

Shame on you Sefton! Another 'nail' closer to the death of Southport town centre.... There's no need to withdraw the 30 minute parking period and I bet you wouldn't dare do it in any other part of the Borough..........

Well if those prices ARE being charged PER HOUR,then don't be surprised if it is the Death Nell for Southport shops.Absolutely ridiculous to increase the charge for parking by 120% if anyone is only parking their vehicle for 15-20 minutes,just to go to pay a household bill or similar.

got to be joking ? , you expect me to drive up and then pay that !!! , I can park under cover in Liverpool for a similar price !!

This is pure incompetence and more likely to reduce revenue than increase it.

Many of the streets in question are almost empty during controlled hours anyway. Removing the ability to park for a relatively reasonable 70p if you only have a quick errand is only going to decrease usage further.

Empty parking spaces generate no revenue; they might as well paint double yellow lines and have done with it.

"Shoppers in for shock" Or not as in this case.

Our friends alerted us to this post when deciding to come over to Southport for the day next Sunday on their quarterly weekend jaunt. As there is 8 of them they normally wander over here in three cars on Sunday morning and meet up by the Monument, then go for a meal etc.

However after seeing the price increases whilst looking for places to eat they've said that Southport is now no longer on their list, and they'll arrange other places to go to instead. Apparently their next Sunday jaunt is now going to be Llandudno where parking costs £1 for the whole day in the Victoria Centres under cover & secure car park. So that'll be 3 quid for them all to park for their 6 hour'ish visit.. Instead of £30 in Southport.

I'm guessing the only ones to benefit from this are the council as their goal is obviously to prevent having vehicles.. and thus people here.

Originally Posted by Orb

"Shoppers in for shock" Or not as in this case.

Our friends alerted us to this post when deciding to come over to Southport for the day next Sunday on their quarterly weekend jaunt. As there is 8 of them they normally wander over here in three cars on Sunday morning and meet up by the Monument, then go for a meal etc.

However after seeing the price increases whilst looking for places to eat they've said that Southport is now no longer on their list, and they'll arrange other places to go to instead. Apparently their next Sunday jaunt is now going to be Llandudno where parking costs £1 for the whole day in the Victoria Centres under cover & secure car park. So that'll be 3 quid for them all to park for their 6 hour'ish visit.. Instead of £30 in Southport.

I'm guessing the only ones to benefit from this are the council as their goal is obviously to prevent having vehicles.. and thus people here.

If they were here for 6 hours then the ending of the 30 minute charge is irrelevant. And where exactly would they be parking that costs £30 for 3 cars?

Originally Posted by Orb

"Shoppers in for shock" Or not as in this case.

Our friends alerted us to this post when deciding to come over to Southport for the day next Sunday on their quarterly weekend jaunt. As there is 8 of them they normally wander over here in three cars on Sunday morning and meet up by the Monument, then go for a meal etc.

However after seeing the price increases whilst looking for places to eat they've said that Southport is now no longer on their list, and they'll arrange other places to go to instead. Apparently their next Sunday jaunt is now going to be Llandudno where parking costs £1 for the whole day in the Victoria Centres under cover & secure car park. So that'll be 3 quid for them all to park for their 6 hour'ish visit.. Instead of £30 in Southport.

I'm guessing the only ones to benefit from this are the council as their goal is obviously to prevent having vehicles.. and thus people here.

I think yours friends has misguided you!

Whilst I disagree with rise in cost of on-street parking, it was expensive to begin with however it is just that on-street parking designed to have a steady flow of spaces available for people wanting a quick visit.

You and your friends can use two park and ride car parks for £1.50 all day, so 3 cars £4.50

Originally Posted by Mr. Brightside

If they were here for 6 hours then the ending of the 30 minute charge is irrelevant. And where exactly would they be parking that costs £30 for 3 cars?

I got a bit confused with this post as well, the price for 4+ hours has only gone up £1...


We nearly always park up for 2 hours which has gone up by 20p, I can live with that.


Apparently it's the 30 mins people who most regularly go over their time and get tickets as they underestimate the time!

Ah ok, perhaps they've got it wrong.. So how much would it cost for them to park on Lord St (Most can't walk far at all you see so Lord St is their preference.) They come over in 3 cars and park for about 6 hours?

Originally Posted by gsgsgs

You and your friends can use two park and ride car parks for £1.50 all day, so 3 cars £4.50

Yesterday the park and ride was £5 and closed at 7pm.


Saying that Southport is a tourist resort the council aren't doing much to promote it, higher parking charges, Pier closing between 6 and 7pm, dirty beaches, overgrown roundabouts, high business rates and bid rates.


Will someone please inform John Pugh that it is all of this that is killing our town and not the wishes of Sainsbury's wanting to build a store at Meols Park, I tried by email but never got a response.

Originally Posted by Orb

Ah ok, perhaps they've got it wrong.. So how much would it cost for them to park on Lord St (Most can't walk far at all you see so Lord St is their preference.) They come over in 3 cars and park for about 6 hours?

You can't park on Lord Street for 6 hours. It's always been 2 hours maximum.

The table above shows there may be a 4 hour maximum being introduced subject to agreement with the BID but they can't have been parking on Lord Street for 6 hours on their visits to date unless they were moving their cars to different spaces every 2 hours.

If they were doing this then the overall cost would be rising from £25.20 to £27.00 or an extra 60p per car which seems a trifling amount upon which to change your plans for the day. If the 4 hour charge does get introduced then the overall cost will drop from £25.20 to £24.00 and they'd only have to move them once.

Given that Lord Street is 1.3km long it's also unlikely they'd all get a parking space close to the part of Lord Street that they want to be given that they can't walk far.

Alternatively the park and ride bus drops at several stops along Lord Street.

Originally Posted by Ric

Will someone please inform John Pugh that it is all of this that is killing our town.

The number of visitors that throng the town every weekend suggests otherwise.

Originally Posted by Mr. Brightside

The number of visitors that throng the town every weekend suggests otherwise.

The amount of empty shops prove otherwise. Lord St has become coffee shops, Bars and Charity shops (not a lot else), the last new shop to open was costa coffee the next one according to news reports and planning is a pastry and tea room, you can only drink so many hot drinks before needing a pee and when you do eventually find a toilet you have to pay for that too!!!

Originally Posted by Ric

The amount of empty shops prove otherwise. Lord St has become coffee shops, Bars and Charity shops (not a lot else), the last new shop to open was costa coffee the next one according to news reports and planning is a pastry and tea room, you can only drink so many hot drinks before needing a pee and when you do eventually find a toilet you have to pay for that too!!!

People don't need shops like they used to.
People do however like to eat and drink on a day out.
High Streets need to adapt and evolve into what people need and want.

And I've yet to visit a café, coffee shop, restaurant or pub that doesn't have a free toilet.