Petitions

Warwick District Council welcomes petitions and recognises that they are one way in which people can inform the Council of their concerns within their community.

Any petitions accepted by the Council under the Council's petition scheme will be included on these pages. Below are details of how you can produce and submit an electronic (epetition) to this Council.

Details of the Council's petition scheme can be downloaded from here

EPetition

  • Details
  • Signatures
  • Response to Petition
Keep car parks in Warwick and Leamington Free to use until August 2021
Please keep the car parks in Warwick and Leamington Spa free to use until August 2021. This is in the hope that it allows people to visit our beautiful towns and help local businesses to begin to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown.
I recently saw a post from the council about the decision to begin charging again for car parking in our towns. I have several back and forth messages discussing why this was required and clearly the council is tied by budget constraints. I expressed the view that our towns need the public to return and this was going to be a gradual process across age groups and the most vulnerable and came to that conclusion based on the dynamic of my own family and friends and the likelihood of them being put off from doing so if the car parks were no longer free to use. I asked the council to consider incentivising the public to use the car parks and town facilities including the shops. I felt the need to gauge the public's opinion on this in the spirit of helping in this small way. I would appreciate peoples support via signature but also from visiting the town if it remains safe to do so based on their individual and family scenario. Thank you.
Not Specified
Saturday, 1 August 2020
Wednesday, 30 September 2020
Robert Ashby
This petition currently has 40 signatures in total.
Petition Signatories
40 electronic signatures
 Page 2 of 4, items 11 to 20 of 40.
Layla Cummings
Martin Dale
Rupinder Dhanoa
Emma Fleming
Kam Gadhary
Philip Garner
David Hands
Kate Ingram
Amaldev Janda
Amarjit Janda
This petition has been reviewed and the following response has been offered:

In response to the above Epetition, Warwick District Council provides surface and multi-storey car parks in and around the District, namely Warwick, Leamington and Kenilworth.

 

In response to the Government lockdown at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, our car park charges were temporarily suspended.  However, the car parks remained open, but there was a drastic fall in vehicle numbers as people adhered to the initial social distancing guidelines as well as a loss of revenue to the local authority.  Social distancing measures had been introduced in our lifts and stairwells where possible with appropriate signs and reminders to enable people to stay as safe as possible.  Car park income is an important factor in relation to the Council’s ability to meet the costs of running the car parks and their related services.  During this time our WDC Rangers remained active and were also able to assist with the production and delivery of over 3,000 food parcels for the most vulnerable in our community during the height of lockdown.

 

Following announcements by the Government of the gradual lifting of restrictions, permission was granted for non-essential retail to open on Monday 15 June.  The footfall steadily started to increase in our town centres as people started to return to work and to visit the shops.  Following on from that, pubs and restaurants and other retail were given the go ahead to open.  WDC continued to temporarily suspend parking charges for a further period until 1 August 2020 to allow businesses and shoppers to become accustomed to the new safety arrangements put in place on our high streets.  Some other areas of the country resumed parking charges in June and July.  

 

The District’s roads and parking facilities need to be used correctly to ensure traffic can flow as freely and safely as possible.  Charging for parking and enforcement ensures that everyone has the chance to access these businesses by encouraging the turnover of the spaces and provision of accessible parking.  The use will be kept under close review.

 

A number of important factors have been considered in making the decision to re-introduce charging.  These include our current work to encourage and enable people to safely and confidently visit our town centres; the need to manage parking behaviour, and the need to return to charging for car parks in a manner that supports and contributes to the economy of Warwick District that supports steps to reducing carbon emissions in line with our Climate Emergency declaration.

 

It is not our wish that anyone should feel put off from using our car parks as they are no longer free.  Public health and safety is clearly a priority and we acknowledge that some people are wary about using, or queuing at, the pay and display machines.  The Council is urging anyone parking to use the cashless contactless systems of our machines or by using the RingGo app on a mobile device to avoid the handling of cash, there is the option to call the RingGo number to pay over the phone too.  If these facilities are out of the reach of some of our customers then I would like to assure everyone that our machines are routinely cleaned every day as well.

 

I hope our response has addressed these concerns and reassured are efforts to support the public’s return to our towns
DateUserDescriptionStatus
 Page 5 of 5, items 41 to 49 of 49.
01/08/2020 10:14Unregistered UserPetition Signed: Ajvinder SahotaPetition Active
01/08/2020 08:22Unregistered UserPetition Signed: Kam GadharyPetition Active
01/08/2020 07:07Unregistered UserPetition Signed: Robert AshbyPetition Active
30/07/2020 18:29 Graham Leach Petitioner notified by email that petition has been approvedAwaiting Opening Date
30/07/2020 18:28 Graham Leach Petition Signed - Robert Ashby - PetitionerAwaiting Opening Date
30/07/2020 18:28 Graham Leach Approver Allocated: Mr Graham Leach Awaiting Opening Date
30/07/2020 18:28 Graham Leach Responder Allocated: Mr Graham Leach Awaiting Approver Allocation
30/07/2020 18:27 Graham Leach Petition ApprovedAwaiting Responder Allocation
29/07/2020 18:30 Robert Ashby Petition Submitted: Keep car parks in Warwick and Leamington Free to use until August 2021Pending Approval

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