A Price increase to the car parking at the Marina has caused Marina businesses to ask the council to - Thursday 28 March 2019

By Hartlepool Alert

A Price increase to the car parking at the Marina has caused Marina businesses to ask the council to step in and help. Hartlepool Marina Business Group has written an open letter to Hartlepool Councillors about the privately owned car park at Navigation Point. Marina bosses claim the previous and recent (March 2019) increases to fees and a difficult appeals process are badly affecting business. They fear this will lead to more business closures. They are calling on the local community to help support their request. The letter is below To all elected members of Hartlepool Brough Council, As a group we believe the regeneration work that the council is undertaking is hugely important to the success of the town. We congratulate the council on the work that has been undertaken so far on Church Street and Hartlepool Marina waterfront. We are forced to write with one voice about our shared concern regarding the privatelyowned car park that serves Navigation Point on the Marina. Unfortunately, Mandale Group have increased their car parking fees multiple times within the last 12 months, with the most recent (March 2019) introducing 24hour parking charges and a 6 daily parking fee. VCS manage the car parking free of charge on behalf of Mandale Group. Their revenue is generated by issuing car parking tickets. We believe this has led to aggressive ticketing and a difficult appeals process. Our businesses are struggling because people will not come due to aggressive ticketing and the fees having skyrocketed. There has been a significant reduction in footfall. Which has sadly led to cuts in employment on the Marina. A number of businesses that rely on people coming to the Marina have already went under including Port Caf and Hunters Restaurant. These most recent increases will be the breaking point for many struggling businesses on the Marina and we fear once bars start to fold, trade will plummet for the rest of us. We believe that the increases in parking fees is due to Mandale Group trying to sell the car park as an investment. Our concern is that another privately owned business will buy the car park as an investment and hikes the fees or remove the 30 minutes free period which will further escalate the problems. It would be a tragedy for the council to regenerate the waterfront only for Navigation Point to host a number of closed and boarded up units. As businesses we work tirelessly to make the Marina a success, but trade is undoubtedly tough and this would really harm many of us. Our request is that Hartlepool Council buys the car park to help the businesses and help support the positive image that the marina brings to Hartlepool. Further increases in car parking charges will only produce devastating consequences which we believe are avoidable. We have a duty to warn the Hartlepool Councillors making a decision about the Hartlepool marina waterfront regeneration to push this request to the front of their minds. Yours sincerely Hartlepool Marina Business Group

Keep up to date with this alert by visiting the Hartlepool News and Alert Facebook Page via www.facebook.com/HartlepoolNewsAlerts

Comments

Please Sign in to Post a Comment