Pay & Display at centre from 12th october

[paul]

From the 12th october "The Centre" will start changing to use the car parks
Thr prices will be as follows:

What do you think?
Could be a good idea as it will bring money in to look after the car parks. Wont turn out like the old multi-storey did.
Might be little easier to get a space if people go for what the want and go. Other wont park to go to work. Tho there needs to be a car park for the workers seperate.

click images to see larger

[Mozam76]

I've voted yes for this, but ONLY because these charges have been on the cards for so long.

Lets be under no illusions here though, this is a money making excercise by Land Securities, pure and simple. Nothing to do with upkeep of facilities, it's purely to recoup some of the money that they spent on building the Elements.

We're in the middle of, by all admissions, one of the worst recessions this country has ever seen too. Yet they see fit to start charging people for something they HAVEN'T BEEN CHARGED FOR BEFORE (this is the crux, IMO) - and all in time for the Christmas shoppers.

Words fail me.

[peter1]

I think its crap
Just going to cause people to park on road sides, park in dedridge and surround areas. Will just cause problems.
People will go else where like the Fort for there shopping!

[paul]

I think its crap
Just going to cause people to park on road sides, park in dedridge and surround areas. Will just cause problems.
People will go else where like the Fort for there shopping!

The best thing about Livingston has always been that it has offered free parking.
At the moment it might not look that bad for 50p - £1 a visit. But give it time and this will go up. By a little thing called inflation.
I think if they offered thursday nights free parking this would be a good thing for locals.Something they should think about.

Livingston are still missing certain stores that people will travel else where for such as Primark.

The Fort is currently in the planning stages to expand the site to double in size. So as long as they offer free parking they will win over alot of potential customers.

Another problem that I have been thinking about is Asda? Will asda be charging its customers to shop there?
If not then I could see the asda car park murder to park in...

[markmitdoy]

as you may or may not know i am now in milton keynes . and the pay & display down here are much higher some car park are 50p for 15 mins and the Centre ( CMK ) is full . so its not a bad thing 50p for Two houres .

ASDA car park will been full it it was always TCP will have thay work cut out now so all i can say is happy parking

[paul]

From West Lothian Courier:

Parking charges set to come into effect this month

PARKING charges are set to be introduced in Livingston town centre this month.

Land Securities has announced that charges will take effect in its car parks from October 12.

The company has installed car park controls, including barriers and ticket machines.

It says its decision to introduce charging was made as a result of increasing construction and land costs which no longer make it economical to provide free parking.

Charges will be introduced at a flat rate of 50p for any visit of up to two hours, and £1 for a longer visit of up to four hours. Parking will be free of charge before 8am and after 6pm.

The firm says it will also provide designated employee parking areas on the top decks of the two multi-storey car parks (The Centre Car Park 1 and Designer Outlet Car Park 1) and use of these areas will be controlled by swipe cards allocated to staff.

A contribution has been made to West Lothian Council in respect of costs arising from the introduction of charging.

Neil Carron of project director Land Securities said: “Parking in Livingston will cost much less than other comparable towns in the region.

“Free parking after 6pm will allow shoppers to take advantage of the shopping and catering offer in the evening, with many stores now open extended hours, not to mention the selection of restaurants on The Avenue which are open late into the evening.

“The introduction of dedicated employee parking areas provides a means of controlling staff parking and ensuring prime spaces remain free for customer use, whilst encouraging green travel initiatives such as car sharing.”

[Andy]

From West Lothian Courier:

The firm says it will also provide designated employee parking areas on the top decks of the two multi-storey car parks (The Centre Car Park 1 and Designer Outlet Car Park 1) and use of these areas will be controlled by swipe cards allocated to staff.

If only this were so simple. My work will be allocated only 3 swipe cards despite there being 7 drivers. While other smaller stores are recieving quite a 'generous' amount of swipe cards.

Fortunately I am not one of those drivers.

[Sean]

Personally I will have no objection in having to pay to park in Livingston. I guess lots of people currently use the car parks as a Park and Ride so this will eliminate them and free up space for people genuinely shopping and using the facilities in the centre. The vast majority of people can do all their weekly shop and have a coffee in under 2 hours so 50p is nothing!

They aught to bring back the parking charges at St John's Hospital. Since the charges were scrapped there has never been free spaces whenever I have tried to park to visit someone in Hospital. Again selfish people treat St John's as a Park and Ride. I'm all in favour of charging at least £1 a visit at St Johns especially if all the proceeds go directly back into the Hospital

[Livi Crazy]

Free parking at the hospital is a must, however it could be managed far better. At Livingston Leisure Centre (Bubbles) they have introduced a barrier system, still free but you have to get a token from the reception to get out and therefore only people using the gym or the pool can use the car park, if the hospital introduced this, where people had to get a token from various receptions to get out it would severely reduce the problems.

People will still choose to come to Livingston where for 1hr its 50p, compared to going to Edinburgh or much of Glasgow will cost £3odds for the same thing, and parking will be easier to find and more convenient. I dont think it will have too much of a hit, as people all over the country are happy to pay parking charges as long as they are reasonable, I dont see why Livingston would be any different.

[paul]

people all over the country are happy to pay parking charges as long as they are reasonable,

Basically hit the he nail on the head. I feel the same. As long as its a fair, resonable charge then I dont mind paying. Hopefully the money is put back into the centre to make it better rather than going straight into Land Securities shareholders pockets.