Parking Report – The Results are in!

West Dorset District Council have just released a big 28 page report on car parking, looking at all aspects of the current arrangements and assessing ways in which things could be improved in the near future.

Admittedly it might not make for lively bedtime reading, but it’s well worth a look for anyone with an interest in local issues, as it gives some really good insights into the much-discussed parking problems we face here. One notable thing the report raises is that contrary to much of what’s been reported in the local press, in recent months there have actually been a number of short term parking spaces available in the town’s car parks even at busy times on market day!

There definitely are areas in need of improvement though, as the report notes that at times as much as 20% of town centre traffic is composed of people just looking for a parking space. This needs to be fixed, and hopefully the recommendations put forward by WDDC will go some way to solving this issue.

The Dorchester BID and Chamber of Commerce were called upon by the Committee working on the report to give advice and suggestions for future improvements, and we are pleased to see some of these ideas are already being implemented. The ambassadors scheme we talked about on the blog a couple of weeks back is being rolled out in the run-up to Christmas, and the parking spaces set aside for coaches in the top of town car park have already been converted into spaces for cars during peak times.

Here is a link to the Dorchester car parking report. It also contains a very good powerpoint presentation entitled ‘A Renaissance for Dorchester’, which looks at all the major developments taking place in the town in the next couple of years, including the Brewery Square regeneration, Charles Street, and the continued expansion of Poundbury. It gives a really encouraging picture of where the town is heading, so we urge you to go and have a read!

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