Durham County Council have recently scrapped their initiative for free parking after 2pm at any of their council owned car park sites.

This was always relatively low on people’s radars as it was never massively well publicised, however, it offers a massive benefit to our Post Covid and Economically challenged city centres.

A lot of areas within County Durham are already ravaged from the last couple of years - with business units closed and a lot of the high streets in need of repair and regeneration. These shopping streets are generally not massively appealing at the moment so any help to keep small business owners afloat - like free parking after 2pm - is much welcomed.

A decision to scrap this at this moment in time, in this economic climate is, a little baffling. No cost/benefit analysis has been presented to residents of County Durham, local councillors have had minimal involvement in the decision to scrap the free parking and this just feels a little like a final nail in the coffin for areas of the North East that need all the help they can get at the moment.

Please consider when signing this that we’re considering not just business owners who need customers but also their workers on shifts who it’s now going to cost more just to get to work, it’s Mams and Dad’s who may have to park up somewhere after a school run, it’s people trying to better their health at council owned leisure centres.

The Council can claim that they’re looking for ways to make money back with budget cuts etc but there are better ways to do so. This will only worsen our local economy and I urge Durham Council to reconsider the decision.