Parking charges on land next to a multi-storey car park in North Wales have triggered a backlash. St Mark’s Road multi-storey in the centre of Wrexham has been closed to vehicles for some time.
But people had been parking for free in the limited number of spaces outside the multi-storey. However, in recent weeks signs have gone up with new parking charges – ranging from £1 for an hour to £6 for the whole day.
The outside part of the car park is reportedly owned by Wrexham Council. But SD Solutions – who have introduced the charges – say they are managing agent for the entire site, both the indoor section and the outside car park.
They said they’ve introduced charges to help pay towards the management of the site – with printed out signs put up. A spokesperson said this was helping with ongoing maintenance to help keep the site safe and litter free, as well as ensuring people were parking correctly.
Cllr Marc Jones, the chair of Plaid Cymru Wrexham, claimed they did not have authority to charge as it is council owned land. Wrexham council have been asked to comment. On Facebook a number of people have complained about the new charges and questioned if they were allowed to charge there.
A spokesperson for SD Solutions said: “There are 30 spaces here and a full day is £6, many are just paying £2. We are certainly not creaming off money here. We are maintaining the site, doing the jobs that other people don’t see like the litter or removing abandoned cars, and dealing with things like anti-social behaviour.
They said before being managed people were parking outside of parking spaces and sometimes blocking other vehicles
“We are often removing needles from the car park in the morning, would people rather go to a car park full of needles?
“People don’t see what we do here at the site, they just like to moan. While it was free there could be 70 cars parked in there, we have stories of people being blocked in and missing appointments.
“We have someone there managing the site and because it’s a person rather than a machine people say it is dodgy. But we are managing where people park to ensure people and can enter and exit and we are also providing security there.
They said they were now ensuring parking was well managed
“We have dealt with £28,000 worth of criminal damage inside car the multi-storey park, who will pay for that? We are using the money to invest in the site, we are bringing in lighting outside to make it safer and longer term we want to open up the inside again.
“For 10 years there was charging here and because it has been free for a few months people aren’t happy that there are charge again.”
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