Tipperary's largest town is 'suffering' because of high parking charges

The delay in harmonising parking charges within the county was criticised at a meeting of Clonmel Borough District.

Amid requests for a reduction in parking charges in Clonmel, a review of the charges in the nine towns in the county has been ongoing for several months now.

Cllr Siobhán Ambrose said there had already been a realignment of the county’s commercial and graveyard charges, and she didn’t believe it was “rocket science” to do the same with parking charges.

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She said it was unfair that this was being kicked to touch, and she asked why it was happening.

Areas such as Clonmel are paying more than other towns. They were told that the process is very intricate “but it’s not really”. The council officials had all the data in front of them, she said.

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Cllr Ambrose said there should be some kind of timeline for when this review would be completed.

The Mayor, Pat English, claimed that Clonmel is suffering because of high parking charges and a lack of free parking time.
It was eleven years since North and South Tipperary County Councils were amalgamated, and it was time that the parking by-laws were reviewed.

Cllr Richie Molloy said the perception among parents dropping children to school in the morning is that you should get out of the town centre as quickly as possible for fear of getting a parking fine. There should be a period of free parking in the morning.

He was aware that there was a half an hour of free parking in the Mary Street car park, but that was “very tight” and you wouldn’t get much done in that time.

Two hours of free parking was available in Cahir, said Cllr Molloy.

Business people were telling them all the time that they were trying to encourage people to come into the town centre, he added.

County Council Engineer James Murray said they were trying to bring the parking by-laws in all nine towns in the county together in a single harmony structure.

It was difficult to introduce a structure that would keep everyone happy, but they were trying to achieve a parking environment that would be positive for each town.

Mr Murray said it was an extremely complicated process but they were progressing.