Threatened Parking Spaces 'Generate £15,000 a Day' for Local Retailers

Councillor claims her survey show they must be retained

The car park in central Chiswick
The car park in central Chiswick

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February 27, 2023

A local councillor is claiming that a survey of shoppers she carried out recently shows that a proposed removal of parking spaces in central Chiswick would have a significantly negative impact on local retailers.

Joanna Biddolph, who represents Chiswick Gunnersbury ward, in which the car park by Old Market Place is situated, interviewed people parking between 1.50pm and 3.50pm on Saturday 11 February which was a relatively quiet day during the half term.

She says she was prompted to undertake the survey after requesting unsuccessfully for Hounslow Council to carry out an assessment of a proposal to reduce the number of parking spaces in the car park by 14. There are currently 50 spaces.

She spoke to 46 drivers who were parking in the central car park in the two hour period, ten declined to be interviewed.. Fewer than 10 had come from Chiswick with some travelling from outside London to visit the area.

Based on what they told her about their spending she calculated that the average spend with local retailers was £268 per car, with visitors bringing in revenue ranging from £1.50 to £6,500 buying a variety of products from stationery to kitchen equipment.

According to Cllr Biddolph’s calculation, the loss of the parking spaces would mean a minimum daily loss of £15,000 a day for the local economy at a time when local businesses are already struggling. She says her numbers are an underestimate because there was a parking attendants strike on the day she carried out the survey meaning that spaces were taken up for longer than they would have been normally. The result was a lower turnover of spaces and, therefore, a lower spend per hour.

Cllr Biddolph said, “From just two hours on a quiet Saturday, it is clear how important to the local economy these parking spaces are – because our shopping choice is exceptional.

“Traders who I have told about the potential loss of 14 spaces are horrified and extremely critical of the council for considering yet another anti-business policy. Losing these spaces would mean losing a massive £15,008 a day minimum. It is incumbent on all councillors and officers to incentivise traders and their customers to do business in Chiswick, not drive them away from our town by not enabling driving and parking in our town.”

It is currently the council’s policy to try and replace parking spaces in town centres where possible.

Previous surveys carried out by councils to justify parking restrictions or increases in parking charges have often claimed to show that retailers overestimate the revenue that the ability of customers to park brings to their business.

Details of the comments made by people surveyed appear below

WHO?	HOW MUCH?	ON WHAT?	FROM WHERE?	HOW OFTEN?	WHY DRIVE?
Woman	£6,580	Kitchen appliances, food shopping, stationery	Isleworth
Father and two adult children	£1,500	Antique desk, butcher, fishmonger, greengrocer, ice cream	Ealing	Fortnightly	“We come because of the car park, if there wasn’t a car park we wouldn’t come.”
Man	£435	Food shopping in independents, lunch for three	Shepherd’s Bush
Woman	£340	Lunch for eight friends	Kew		Special occasion
Husband and wife	£265	Hairdresser, food shopping	Colindale	At least once a month.	Dropping off wife while husband (formerly of Chiswick) met friends.
Mother and daughter	£200	Lighting from an independent shop	Ealing		To support local shops; will be back later for the cinema.
Woman	£200	Food shopping, presents	Twickenham
Three female friends	£200	Lunch	Ealing, gave lift to her two friends from Chiswick
Couple	£200	Butcher, fishmonger, food shopping, nails, books	Ravenscourt Park	Frequently as children are at school in Chiswick, husband works in Chiswick, they spend most of their time in Chiswick.	On the way to/from children’s activities.
Man	£200	Food shopping	East Sheen		Easiest.
Woman	£148	Food shopping			Has a disability so needs to park close to central shops
Man	£140	Food shopping	Brentford
Husband and wife	£126	Food shopping, books	Shepherd’s Bush		Too heavy to carry. This is our go-to location.
Man	£120	Contact lenses			Has disabled son so needs to park.
Woman	£110	Food shopping, homeware	Ealing
Man	£100	Food shopping	Sandhurst	Daily	Works in Chiswick.
Husband and wife	£100	Food, clothes, alterations	Chiswick
Woman	£100	Food shopping, health foods	Hammersmith
Woman	£100		Chiswick
Man	£82	Food from five shops	Ealing
Woman	£80	Healthcare, lunch, supermarket	Wembley
Father	£80		Chiswick		To/from multiple activities for his children.
Three female friends	£80	Lunch	Chiswick, Ealing, Heathrow
Two women	£80	Lunch with her sister, food shopping	Epsom, Queen’s Park.		Makes it possible. Two hours’ parking is not enough.
Mother and son	£70	Haircut, butcher, coffee	Hammersmith
Mother and son	£65	Barber and lunch	Buckinghamshire, Brook Green		Best route from the west.
Couple	£60	Health food, tea, photos	Ealing
Woman	£60	Nails, dry cleaning, alterations	Chiswick	Every Saturday	Tries not to drive but works full time in east London, has two children with many Saturday activities to fit in.
Woman	£60		Greenford
Man and woman	£57	Wine	Acton		On way to supermarket then health food store.
Woman	£57	Food shopping	Chiswick
Two women	£50	Lunch	Chiswick
Husband and wife	£43.80	Laundry drop off, lunch, bank for cash	Kew
Father and daughter	£40	Brunch	Camberley	Once a week for coffee then lunch	Take daughter to/from football.
Woman	£33	Lunch with three friends	Henley		Sensible route from the west.
Father and son	£30	Treat son to a pizza	Isleworth
Woman	£30	Skin care treatment	Kew
Man	£25	Food shopping, coffee in a café	Ashford, near Heathrow	Several times a month; loves the cinema	Easier by car.
Woman	£22	Browse antiques, supermarket shopping, greetings cards	Marylebone
Man	£20	Lunch	Hillingdon	Daily	Works at Chiswick supermarket.
Man	£15		Hammersmith
Mother and son	£10	Meeting son who lives in Chiswick, haircut for son	Dorking		Best route.
Woman	£6.50		Osterley
Man	£4.60	Lunch	East Acton		Faster.
Woman	£3	Greetings card	Chiswick		Faster.
Mother and daughter	£1.50	Present for sick child in hospital	Outside Chiswick		Quick stop on the way to hospital.
TOTAL	£12,329	£268 per car based on 46 cars over two hours
POTENTIAL ADDITIONAL SPENDING FROM DRIVERS WHO DID NOT STOP TO BE INTERVIEWED
Ten drivers	£2,680	Ten drivers based on £268 per car
TOTAL	£15,009	£268 per car based on 56 cars parked for two hours
POTENTIAL TOTAL PER DAY IF THE TEN DRIVERS HAD STOPPED
TOTAL	£53,600	Based on 56 spaces turning over every two hours at £268 per car
TOTAL PER DAY LOST TO THE LOCAL ECONOMY IF 14 SPACES ARE REMOVED
TOTAL	£15,008	Lost per day if 14 spaces are removed (£268 per space x 14 x 4)

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