From April 1, the town council is looking to introduce the all-day fee at Chester Street, Shaws Brow and Botteneck car park, which are currently free of charge on a Sunday.
Councillor Natalie Byron, a member of the environmental services committee that covers car parks in the town, told the Manx Independent the change was being made as ’the council had to make various cuts to keep the rates down’.
’The decision to apply the charge was instead of increasing rates and there were various other options considered such as increasing daytime charges throughout the week,’ she said.
’It was the best solution that the committee could come up with.’
As it stands, the car parks charge £2 an hour and £5.50 for seven hours during the week. Chester Street car park has a £2.50 all-day charge on Saturdays with it being free of charge after 3pm on weekdays.
The impact of a new Sunday charge on shops in the area was said to be ’low’ by members of the committee.
Shop owners, however, believe it could be detrimental to businesses in the area.
’It’s a crazy idea,’ said Peter Curphey of Butler’s Choice.
’We’re trying to bring life back into the town and they are making daft choices like that. Our customers definitely use it on Sundays. Our staff too. The council hasn’t thought it through. I know businesses along the promenade are getting mad about the lack of help they are getting with parking.
’I’m very frustrated. Business is bad enough anyway in general. Any costs for people to come in is going to go against you.’
Tea Junction manager Michelle Borg said she was unsure of how the charge could affect their business.
’We, the staff, sometimes use the car park on a Sunday because it’s free. We will have to find other alternatives to park, which will probably be on the promenade,’ she said.
’I’m not sure if it’s going to affect us business-wise. It will have to be a "wait and see" game.’
She added: ’There are not enough spaces for people to come into town. It would help if there could be an arrangement where members of staff can park.’
Under plans for the Douglas promenade redevelopment, the sea front will be losing about 130 car parking spaces.
It is also thought that as many as 300 car parking spaces could be lost in the short to medium term time as developments for Lord Street take shape.
One shop owner, who wished to remain anonymous, said: ’We have regular customers who come in on a Friday.
’The charge is going to affect us in a negative way as customers will have to walk from a long distance, some of them bring in kids. It’s making it more complex for people to come into town.’
They added that it will impact their competition, as well as make their already busy weekdays even busier as a way to avoid the Sunday charge.
’People might be able to go to other places with car parking places and that means we will be losing customers,’ they said.
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