Parking Charges to be removed on Crown Carpark, Albrighton

Last year the community of Albrighton saw the immediate effects of losing the only free carparking facility within the centre of the village. This was following the decision of Marstons terminating the lease to Shropshire Council earlier than scheduled. Albrighton Parish Council were disappointed by this decision and began work behind the scene to try and rectify.

The Crown Public House had seen an increase of people using the carpark when commuting via train and for their own leisure, whilst users of the Crown struggled to find parking. As a result of this becoming a paid carpark, we are aware a lot of residents and visitors to the village had decided to boycott the carpark and the Crown, which we are disheartened to hear. We were aware that many did not know about the free hour or were receiving fines for going over the allocated free hour. Similarly, we noticed an increase of parking on roads near to the centre of the village, and a lot of shops losing customers to outside visitors not being able to park or not wishing to pay for the carpark charges. Ultimately, this had detrimental effects on our residents and businesses, the Crown included, and this is something the Council felt strongly about rectifying with the Crown and Marstons.

Albrighton Parish Council wrote to the Operations Manager of Marstons, Paul Gill, and invited him to a meeting to discuss the concerns of residents and visitors to the village following the decisions of the carpark. Councillors David Meyrick, Nigel Lumby, and Colin Noakes met with Paul Gill to express concerns and request for changes to be made to have as little impact as possible on the Village Centre as well as the Crown Public House.

 

We are pleased to inform residents, shop owners, businesses, and visitors of Albrighton that this meeting was a success on both accounts for the Council and the Crown Public House. Marstons have agreed for the paying facilities on the Crown Carpark to be removed indefinitely on 1^st March 2024 and the Crown Carpark will once again be free of charge. We would like to use this opportunity to urge residents and visitors to please continue using all our wonderful local amenities without the fear of parking charges and we look forward to working as a community with all.

 

Paul Gill, Operations Manager said: “As you are aware we installed a parking meter at the Crown last year. This action was taken to discourage people who were using the car park daily to avoid paying at the station and in turn stopping people from using it. However, we have found this to be hugely unpopular in the village and it is unfair for the whole community to suffer for the actions of a few. As a result of this we taken the decision to remove the parking meter from 01^st March 2024. We apologise for any distress it may have caused.”

 

On behalf of Albrighton Parish Council we would like to thank Paul Gill, Operations Manager of Marstons, the Crown Public House manager and staff, Councillors Lumby, Meyrick and Noakes and all those residents for working together and achieving a positive result for our community.

 

END.