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Paul Reid /
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FOCUS ON THE NORTH WEST
FEATURE
NM The city centre has changed. A lot of people were originally moving in there, working in town and not actually needing a car. We initiated or extended car clubs, so that if they needed a car for a few hours or to leave the city for the weekend it was feasible. I think that the public transport is quite good so we have to change the mindset and get them to use it. We don’t have 20,000 on-street spaces to allow every resident to park on the street. In fact we have about 2,200 on-street parking bays so, take away the shoppers and any other visitors, we would need another solution just for residents. Had Manchester had the investment in public transport that has been seen in London, people would naturally use it to come into the city. It’s going to take a generational shift before the first choice is the tram, the train or the bus.
PN There is a lot of commercial parking, some rather informal, in and around the city. Are you quite sanguine about that?
few years, the pressure is building. We are addressing that issue with a new residents’ parking scheme in the next few months and there’s a consultation on that running now.
PN You mentioned extra revenue from parking since the changes. That must be very welcome in these austere times.
NM It is welcome but it goes into a ring- fenced parking fund, which is used to fund improvements to transport and highways services across the city. It helps pays for the Metroshuttle bus, which provides two million free journeys a year linking shops with offices, car parks, rail and bus stations across the city centre. It is the most successful service of its kind in the country. The fund guarantees that this free service can be provided without any taxpayers’ money being taken from vital council services, and will also pay for the pedestrianisation of Sackville Street, improving safety for the thousands of people who visit the gay village every week.
PN With the growth in popularity of the gay village, of the bohemian Northern Quarter and of neighbouring Salford’s Media City, is there a discernible change to the parking behaviour of people living within the city?
www.britishparking.co.uk
You have to do what’s best for the city and
what’s best for the city isn’t necessarily what’s most popular Nigel Murphy
NM Not really, no. In a perfect world I’d rather people used public transport to get in rather than drive. Otherwise I’d prefer to see us making some money out of them driving but, if there’s a need, I suppose business is going to feed the demand, isn’t it?.
PN How have business owners reacted to the way you manage parking?
NM There was some resistance to the changes. Business people thought the charges would stop people coming, in but we have seen occupancy rates in the 6pm-8pm slot and all- day Sunday at 87 per cent, so those fears have been allayed.
PN Are their any innovations of which you are particularly proud?
NM Pay by phone. During the FA Cup derby game, I was in a pub in town, decided to stay longer as the game got more exciting and topped up by phone. Absolutely brilliant.
PN Manchester is a very left-wing city. Do your politics come into parking?
NM I think it’s a very political issue but with power – I don’t like the term ‘power’ – with the office comes responsibility and you have to do what’s best for the city, and what’s best for the city isn’t necessarily what’s most popular.
JUNE 2012 33
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