TRADERS in Barry’s Holton Road have said they were never consulted over Vale Council proposals to introduce car parking charges in the town centre.

The businesses said both they and their customers are overwhelmingly against the scheme which will see charges introduced at the Wyndham Street, Thompson Street and Kendrick Road car parks.

Town centre traders now want to meet with the council, in the hope that it will do a u-turn, and listen to public and local business opinion.

Petitions available in the street’s shops, have so far secured hundreds of signatures.

Some residents have vowed to shun Holton Road.

Holton Road Traders chairman Nick Frangoulis – whose family has been trading in Thompson Street since 1950 – said he was against the fees and the Vale Council and had not sought opinions from the businesses.

He said: “It will affect an already fragile retail environment discouraging people to shop with a cost on parking.

“It will probably encourage people to go to places where parking is free."

Dave Elliot, managing director of T L Computer Systems, on Holton Road, said: “I disagree with it and the whole way the council has gone about it. They haven’t asked any of the traders in Holton Road about it. It will have a detrimental effect.”

He said the council should allow free parking for up to two hours and charge for stays of four hours or more to prevent office workers from occupying valuable shopper spaces for the whole day.

He also said the council should look changing the signage for unloading zones and changing those zones.

He added that pedestrian drop-off points needed consideration and taxi rank locations needed adjustment.

He stressed that each block of Holton Road had its own unique requirements and that the shopping streets should not be treated as a whole.

“The council has just not listened to public opinion. It’s all to do with the money coming in,” he said, questioning why the council was not introducing parking charges at its Civic Offices base.

High Street minister Marcus Jones MP said the proposed car parking charges put forward by the Vale Council would “negatively impact” the community in Barry – after he was informed by Vale MP Alun Cairns.

Mr Jones called for the consideration of approaches seen in other parts of Britain. Northumberland County Council in the north of England introduced a ‘Free Parking for All’ scheme that allowed local working groups to establish whether the need for parking control existed.

Mr Cairns said: “I am very grateful to the minister for responding to the issues we are facing in the Vale of Glamorgan. The Vale Council has not consulted, and council tax payers feel very let down – both residents and traders. In Northumberland the authority worked closely with working groups in every town and village, and has taken the sensible and considered option of seeing how free car parking can help our communities.

“Policy was put in place to see innovative solutions found locally and car parking charges were seen as a last resort, not the easiest fix.

“The communities can decide best what is necessary, and as seen in Northumberland – with close proximity to major cities like Newcastle – they have acted with forethought to support rural towns. In the Vale, we are very close to Cardiff and Bristol, so the local authority should consider the best way of attracting visitors and tourists to our communities – charging people to park is simply not the way to go about it. ”

Anyone wanting to sign a petition, can visit businesses in Holton Road and Thompson Street.