I'm sorry to disagree with you Yorkie but we obviously don't live on the same Planet. Since we took over our place in August 1997, at a very modest estimate at least 250 free car parking spaces around Prince Edward Square, South and North Parade, Happy Valley Road, Happy Valley Gardens and Marine Drive been removed. Pay and display Parking had been introduced and the amount of free disabled parking places that has been allocated is truly beyond belief (especially as they can park for free on double yellow lines anywhere in the town as it is) I stand by what I said the Council has a deliberate vendetta against free parking and the businesses that depend on it. It’s also my firmly held belief they have a very deliberate policy of getting rid of as much Parking as they can for whatever totally misguided green agenda they are currently following. 79 Hotels / B & B’s / Guesthouses up for sale and rising.
Point one, I do live on the same Planet and have have done for three score years and ten, plus a few.
Secondly, where there were ever 250 free parking paces in the vicinity of Prince Edward Square, I don't know. That is just b.s.
Thirdly the idea of P & D parking is not primarily to create revenue but to make the best use of the available spaces. Many spaces were taken up when there was very little control or policing by hotel residents parking all day, to the detriment of other businesses in the town. The decision to adopt P & D around the town was not taken lightly and was only done after extensive research.
As I mentioned in another post some time ago, The Grand had an arrangement with CCBC to use the Maelgwyn Road Car Park for their guests, for which they and their guests paid. And that was certainly in operation in 1991. On-road charging has only been with us for a few years and certainly since the road lay out of the Prince Edward Square area was completed.
Llandudno is living, or surviving, with the same problems as are experienced by other Victorian resorts. Have a look round and ask yourself what the town has to offer the holidaymaker, not with regard to parking, but with other amenities such as entertainment especially during bad weather. Also consider that more and more people are holidaying abroad for decent weather and better value for money, and the answer to empty beds becomes apparent.
Finally if we can accommodate all the cars and traffic during the Extravaganza it can't be that bad.
60 places lost when Happy Valley got Heritage Lottery Funding and had to remove all the free parking behind the Café, 40 plus spaces lost when we had the unnecessary roundabout put in at the beginning of Church Walks, 40 plus spaces lost on Happy Valley Road. 40 plus spaces with the redevelopment and road layout change to Prince Edward Square. Now factor in the spaces lost with the introduction of Coach Bays, Unloading Bays, Road narrowing measures, and the introduction of an over indulgence of disabled parking places and include the spaces lost to the single and double yellow lines leading up to the toll gate and up Church Walks and you can see my claim of losing the 250 places is factual and not as you suggest b.s.
I didn’t say if I thought P & D was a good or bad idea merely that its introduction removed what had been up to then free parking. If removing it because it was a detriment for the hotel guest to use it over other businesses in the Town then why is Mostyn Street especially up our end becoming a ghost town now that P & D has been introduced? Perhaps more professional extensive research is required to find out.
The Grand only needed the Maelgwyn Road parking because they had sold off their Garage in Water Street for building (Garth Court). It’s still possible to buy up to 4 parking permits for guest to use but unlike the Grand, I paid for them for my guests at a cost of £200 a year. Unfortunately just because I had bought and paid for the 4 permits didn’t guarantee them a parking slot.
People are going abroad for their main Holiday, a fact that cannot be denied, but by the same token people of our age group are taking more short breaks of 2 to 4 days than ever they did before. If you think we don’t offer value for money I suggest you check out our nightly rate with the rest of the country. The modern guests want to come by their own Car and park outside the Hotel they are staying at. Every time one of them gets a Parking Ticket they say to hell with Llandudno and won’t come back, just like the people who get tickets in Venue Cymru car park on a winters evening. The answer to empty beds is to get a Council that gives a S*** about the towns visitors and provides for their needs.
How many people can’t get to Llandudno on the Extravaganza weekend or spend hours and hours trapped in their cars, driving round and round, looking for somewhere to Park and how many of them will then say, “Llandudno, never again.” More than I care to think about.