The Conservative group on Moray Council has expressed disappointment that their proposal to provide a free parking period of 2 hours in Elgin to support the high street was quashed when council officers said it would take 2 months to implement the idea.
Commenting on the debate around parking in Elgin is Cllr Tim Eagle (Buckie Ward);
“Since the terrible impacts of COVID-19 hit parking has been free in Elgin, a position which was continued by councillors earlier this summer in order to continue to support local business by encouraging much needed footfall. Sadly as things developed complaints started to rise that surface car parks close to the town were being blocked by all day parking. This has the negative effect of actually pushing shoppers away from the town.
"I tried at length to engage with officers on what we could do to continue to show support for our high streets. A clear option for me was that we re-introduced parking charges but retain a free period for 2 hours. This would allow shoppers a longer period of time to come in, do their shopping, have a coffee etc but would also discourage long stay parking in popular car parks. I was shocked to hear officers say that implementing that would take 2 months.
"2 months to change a machine is an awful long time. It is such a shame that we are limited on how agile we can be in our support for high streets by the length of time it takes us to programme ticket machines."
“Despite my frustrations I do welcome the extension of the free after 3pm scheme, which will allow users of the St Giles centre car park free parking after 3pm from Oct 26th."
