Parking Charge Increases for 2014

It's been a while since I last made time to do all the research and drafting necessary for a lengthy piece of analytical waffle and commentary that meets the standard of earlier posts on this blog. While I always intend to resume blogging passionately about local places and events with an eye for as much detail as possible, you'll probably be pleased that this final post for 2013 will be a shorter one.

A discussion on parking issues in Llanelli is always a great way to dampen any festive cheer. So here goes.

Council-owned car parks in Llanelli (I believe we have 11 of them in and around the town centre) are a central component in facilitating footfall in the town, with the parking charges often considered a key factor in visitors' decisions to shop here. The often expressed fear that higher charges are largely responsible for driving people away from the shops is, however, an exaggeration. In reality, Carmarthenshire has consistently offered much cheaper parking than in neighbouring Counties, and visitors have proven to be happy to pay if they are on a serious shopping trip.

Over the past ten years, various schemes specifically aimed to promote footfall at the most effective times have been introduced in Llanelli – e.g. free evening parking, free parking for up to 4 hours on Saturdays, reduced tariffs for under an hour's parking in town centres, etc.
And although charge increases in line with inflation have been provided for on various occasions, anticipated increases have at times been postponed, as was the case between 2000 and 2004, and following the onset of recession in 2008 when the planned increases were delayed for 1 year.

Since 2010, each New Year's Day has seen most rates rise 10p in the Council's car parks, keeping in line with projections made in October 2010. These projections apply only as far as January 2014, and future increases are currently under consideration. Although the charges remain lower than privately run parking lots and within reasonable distance of inflation, what does seem to have changed is the rationale for these increases. In contrast with the earlier goal of keeping charges low but raising them slightly to cover the costs of developing the parking infrastructure and improving car park security across Carmarthenshire, now the focus is on generating greater revenue from parking charges and meeting budgetary reduction targets.

This year, the Council announced that around £30million of savings must be made over the next three years. A public consultation on the budget cuts was launched in November with 51 proposals on how to achieve these savings. Among the proposed savings to the 'Technical services' annual budget of £35 million, is a potential revenue increase of £475,000 from parking-related changes. These include:

• the introduction of charges for ‘blue badge’ holders, affecting over 18,000 disabled drivers in the County and expected to raise £109,000 over 3 years;
• imposing workplace parking charges for County Council staff and councillors, set at a fixed £10/month fee;
• extended parking charges into evening hours from 6pm until 9pm;
• and overall increases to the parking tariffs, doubling the recent trend with 20 pence rises proposed for 2015-16 and 2016-17.

You can express your views on these proposals through the Council's online public consultation survey, which ends January 3rd.

Currently, visitors can benefit from free evening/overnight parking in Council-owned car parks from 6pm until 8am. This has important implications for the evening trade at Eastgate, and especially for the Travelodge hotel. The proposal to extend the Pay & Display hours to 9pm is still under consideration and may face stiff opposition in the coming months.



Here's how the tariffs for parking at Eastgate (formerly Island Place car park) have increased over the past 13 years. Note that long term parking, originally defined as 'up to 10 hours' and later as 'all day' parking, is no longer possible given the maximum limit of a 4-hour stay.

Parking charges for 2014,
Monday – Saturday (08:00 - 18:00):

1 hour         £1.20

2 hours        £1.60

3 hours        £1.80

4 hours        £2.00

And that's just about all the cheerless closure to 2013 that Tin Dragon will bring. Llanelli seems to be the only place in the UK experiencing stormy weather tonight, and the first two months of the new year are set to be rather cold, so there's little more I can say.
But where there's a will there's a way, even when it rains in Wales once again. For sure, many people will be out celebrating to ring in 2014.

Thank you to everyone who visited my blog during its first year of existence, it has been a highly demanding and rewarding experience to keep it up-to-date. I look forward to bringing you further posts in the weeks ahead.

Happy New Year to everybody, and may 2014 bring you much satisfaction, peace and good health.
And for those of you who will enjoy free overnight parking in Carmarthenshire tonight, please take care on the roads and DO NOT drive if you have been drinking.

Seismic but Slow

It's a fascinating time to live in Llanelli. For decades, nothing seemed to improve: the town sunk deeper into its comfy seat on the Carmarthenshire coast while other localities in South Wales lapped up all the investment they could for successive infrastructural facelifts and tourism campaigns. On the precipice of terminal decline, Llanelli found itself beyond the reach of cosmetic assistance. The only way forward would be through total transformation.

Starting in 2011, over £60million of investment was earmarked for key regeneration projects. Planners recognised the need to revitalise the town centre first, in order to ensure that funding be concentrated more effectively and benefit the local economy in the most effective way.

This funding comes from a number of sources, primarily: the EU's European Regional Development Fund, Welsh Government grants, Carmarthenshire County Council and private sector support. Projects include:

• the creation of a leisure quarter, East Gate, comprising a new bus interchange, restaurants, cafes, a multiplex cinema, a hotel, retail space and office accommodation – completed over the second half of 2012;
• the refurbishment of Llanelli Library (with this astonishing discovery made in the process), freshly equipped with Internet cafe, function hall, audiovisual library, children's library and reference materials  – re-opened in March 2012;
• the establishment of a theatre complex, Y Ffwrnes, which houses a creative and cultural centre for performing arts, media & community events – opened in January 2013;
• the restoration of Llanelly House – scheduled to open to the public as a major heritage attraction in September 2013;
• a systematic renovation of town centre aesthetics;
• financial assistance for small businesses in and around the town centre, enabling renovations to their premises;
• better periphery-centre access for pedestrians and cyclists, with routes developed from Dafen and Felinfoel, the coast and North Dock, and Trostre;
• a refurbishment of Coleshill Social Centre where a new 'Centre for Economic Inclusion' will provide information & advice to people who are marginalised or economically inactive, training & business support for small and medium enterprises, and other social and health improvement services;
• landscaping and other environmental improvements to the wider area.

(I will dedicate future posts to covering these projects in greater detail.)

"Where would you like to go today?"

On the ground, it all looks very promising - you can take it from me.
But you shouldn't need to take my word for it. And neither should the tens of thousands of prospective visitors from whose arrival the town is expected to reap the dividends of this grand regeneration scheme.

At the time of launching this blog, Llanelli lacks virtual presence. In the digital realm, on platforms such as Infoserve City-Visitor and Google Maps, the town's many enterprises are generally absent and representations of 'Llanelli' rarely stretch beyond the traditional, two-dimensional road maps. Traders should know that word-of-mouth is the most effective form of publicity. But it shouldn't be the only form. Besides, local gossip tends to revert back to bemoaning the belief that "there's nothing around here… all the shops are closed down… everything's a charity shop now".

This year, the ADREF town centre redevelopment project continues to distribute some £4.3million of assistance from the EU Structural Funds, helping retailers to maximise on aesthetic potential. Paying close attention to the small things, shopfronts have been renovated with bright new, glass canopies installed; buildings redecorated with pleasing, fresh hues; and a glass/steel umbrella structure and seating on the newly paved area where Stepney Street and Vaughan Street meet (and now that 'central square' area has a name!)

Considerable efforts have been made (Okay, so there was some cosmetic tweaking) to render the town more welcoming. For a town to be a comfortable place to live, it has to be welcoming; to flourish, it must be inviting.





Tin Dragon was founded on the belief that those of us who care about the town's prospects the most – i.e. the residents – can make a difference. Neither driven by finances nor steered by committees, we can draw on our local knowledge to offer accurate and up-to-date reflections of Llanelli to the outside. Nothing matches the scale or pace of community power online, and it is essential that the local residents have a say in shaping their future.

Physical regeneration projects such as those of ADREF do not concern themselves with encouraging businesses to reach out to consumers via the Internet. Even the great powers of investment lack substance on the web (see official East Gate website for an example of a user-alienating showcase, outdated news, a general lack of concrete information and zero effort in the integration of social networking).

It is true that the cyber-infrastructure of West Wales is inadequate. Promises to lift Britain's biggest cities to surfing speeds of up to 100Mb/s have done nothing to improve our 0.5 Mb/s connection speeds in Carmarthenshire. Our local businesses Welsh Government plans to remedy the situation are currently spread over 3 years, with new services for West Wales not arriving until 2014-15. Yet we cannot wait idly for another outside source help us move forward. Inadequate web presences of Welsh small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have long been recognised and local businesses persistently miss out in spite of warnings from experts globally.




Expect to see regular updates on the situation, beginning a string of additions to Google Maps, as Tin Dragon embarks on a mission to put Llanelli on the map. Local knowledge, networking, and individuals' enthusiasm to contribute to change will be at the heart of this effort.



Have you been in the town centre lately?  What are your thoughts on the renovation works?

Please let me know by leaving a comment below or send a message to Tin Dragon, write to me on Facebook , Google+, or Twitter