Uttlesford: Free parking backed despite little impact in past

Most of the car parks in Saffron Walden will be free in the week after Christmas Day

A district council will introduce free parking for a week, despite being shown evidence it would not increase visitors to its towns.

Uttlesford District Council will not charge for its car parks, except Fairycroft Car Park in Saffron Walden, between Christmas Day and 3 January.

According to council documents, this could cost the authority £10,000.

Council leader, John Lodge, said: "The publicity of this is important if we're going to make the most of it."

The authority, run by the Residents for Uttlesford group, hopes this will increase footfall in town and village centres during the quiet period after Christmas, according to the Local Democracy Report Service.

But a council report said free parking had not significantly increased the number of people visiting the district's town centres in previous years.

"Anecdotal evidence from the Saffron Walden BID and Great Dunmow Town Team, and from many individual businesses, is that these promotional campaigns do not generate a significantly higher footfall in the town centres," the report said.

The council previously allowed free parking in 2019, but almost 90% of people in Saffron Walden and Great Dunmow did not know about it, according to the report.

Mr Lodge said: "We want to make sure people know about it and they actually use that facility and actually bring extra footfall into the town."

According to the report, the council will promote the free parking incentive using stickers and banners in car parks, advertising on social media and in newspapers, and by liaising with town and parish councils and business groups.