Some of your comments

These are just some of the comments we have received:

We will stop going into the village except to a Doctors appointment. Instead will use the Waitrose car park to access anything else needed. We will not pay to park in Welwyn. Village/Location: Harmer Green

Please leave our village alone, we do not want parking charges
Village/Location: welwyn herts

No No No to parking charges !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Village/Location: welwyn herts

I live within 1km of affected area & have not received any correspondence from the council! Thank you for you hard work & efforts. Village/Location: Welwyn

I strongly object to the proposed changes, if enacted I will reduce my business in the village in favour of free car parking supermarkets.
Village/Location: Danesbury Park, Welwyn

I am emailing Bob Jewell separately to object to the the proposals for the High Street car park, Lockleys car park and Titmuss Yard car park proposal.
Village/Location: Mimram Walk

My partner and I have recently moved home and we each now live and work in Welwyn. One of the attractions of the village was and is (despite the lack of allocated parking) the ability to park close to our home and our work. With this money raising exercise I can envisage having to pay for parking for most days of the year. Not an attractive thought for us nor for any personal or business visitors to the village. Not that there are going to be many of either of these if the car parking charges take effect. There is not a problem with parking at the moment. Everyone is currently sensible enough and able enough to find a suitable place to park. Forcing those who do not want to pay or cannot afford to pay (£500.00 per year for a non guaranteed space at Lockleys Drive?) is going to put huge pressure on the few available free spaces still left. Illegal parking and the subsequent traffic chaos that it will cause is an obvious consequence of introducing charges, followed by an increase in parking restrictions, yellow lines etc.

Where have I moved from? St Albans. Parking restrictions galore. People from St Albans actually come to Welwyn to shop, eat, drink socialise and enjoy the village and its environment rather than suffer the hassle and aggravation of trying to park in the city. Not anymore. Welwyn will be exactly the same. Shops will close, they will not be paying Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council business rates, jobs will be lost so that unemployment will increase and the amount paid in unemployment and jobseekers benefits will inevitably follow. But at least there will be the income from car parking charges. Or will there, as no one will want to come here? What a brilliant financial strategy from WHBC. Time to admit a mistake and rethink the proposed car park charging policy in Welwyn.
Village/Location: Mill Lane, Welwyn

This is nothing more than another means of making money. These car parks were built using Council funds provided by the residents, and therefore surely they can be maintained by the same method. Unfortunately this is just another short sighted approach to finance. What will the Council do when the businesses in the village die and nobody (customers and employees alike) needs the car parks?
Village/Location: Wilga Road, Welwyn

I think the introduction of parking fees in Welwyn village will only serve to change our now vibrant village for the worse. I do not drive and fear that shops and businesses will be hit by parking charges which will affect daily shopping for villagers as well as visitors. Perhaps another public meeting before the introduction of the charges may be a good idea as many of us missed the August meeting due to holidays. This may also to increase public support. It is interesting to note that we have yet to have public comments from our local councilors as to their feelings. This will not improve our facilities it will only line the pockets of the council—yet again
Village/Location: north ride danesbury

It is absolutely ridiculous that I will have to pay to park when visiting the doctors. That will be at least once a month when I collect my prescription (and I am only there for a few minutes each time). It will also kill the small shops and restaurants
Village/Location: Tewin

Surely the revenue raised will not be that great…and will just make visiting Welwyn less attactive to people. It can not be a positive measure.
Village/Location: Elmoor Ave, Welwyn

Just another underhand tax
Village/Location: Tewin

Are we expected to pay to visit the Doctor and who knows how long we would be at the surgery anyway? Unfair and unnecessary.
Village/Location: Kimpton

Introducing parking charges will almost certainly reduce the number of people using the village. Surely this can not be good? If you are just popping down to visit one shop you can do without having to pay for an hours parking!
Village/Location: Stevenage

It is hard enough in this economic climate for village shops and businesses to stay afloat; this will surely be another nail in their coffins as many potential shoppers will be deterred from visiting such a picturesque village.
Village/Location: Stevenage

I want to register my objection to the proposed car park charges in welwyn village.. both at the high street car park and lockleys drive.. I frequently use the local shops and do not want to or see why I should pay to park the car to go and get my daily paper or other sundries I may need.. I enjoy living in welwyn and don’t see why we should have to pay for parking. what will the money be used for???
Village/Location: hawbush Rise

: I work in Welwyn village, all my family are registered with Bridge Cottage Surgery and I use the local shops at least once a day.

I live in Knebworth and fully understand issues with parking!! But I do not believe for one instant that charging for parking will do Welwyn any good at all. Shops will lose trade – I for one would probably stop at Oaklands on my way home from work, rather than pay to park for 10 minutes. Welwyn does not have commuter parking, so I don’t see why it needs to change things. Charging for parking will just make people park further afield and cause problems for residents that are unaffected at the moment. Personally I see charging for parking as plain and simple greed on behalf of WHDC.
Village/Location: Welwyn

I use Welwyn village for shopping, business, youth activities, worship as well as school drop off/pick up. Whilst some adjustments to parking habits may be required, WHC interest (and their subcontractors) in this matter is clearly financial. They have no plan (their proposals are contradictory and assume that the parish council will pick up the pieces while pocketing revenue). Based on the ongoing parking disaster in Digswell (not of WHC making) WHC should not tinker with things they do not understand. Four years after yellow lines appeared on the streets, new yellow lines were added today in New Road, and low and behold commuters have stated to park on the B1000! WHC should go back to the drawing board!
Village/Location: Digswell, Welwyn

The perception is that the proposal to introduce charges for the Welwyn public car parks with other parking restrictions is totally flawed. There needs to be real community consultation and with an holistic approach that complements the Welwyn plan. At the heart of any consultation should be the Parish Council with local community participation, the strategy for which should be driven by the Parish Council.
Village/Location: Digswell

It is disgraceful.
Village/Location: Oaklands and Mardley Heath

It is a ridiculous idea. The village will DIE. People need to stop grabbing money off other people.
Village/Location: Welwyn

I see this as a money making exercise and those making these decisions obviously do not live in the village and therefore do not understand how imposing these plans are going to seriously affect residents and those from outside Welwyn, who access shops and services in the village.
Village/Location: Welwyn

Having both lived in the village and worked there for 25 years I still shop there, attend the doctors, church etc (as do several people in my area as we are closer to the village than WGC town centre)
Your proposed parking restrictions will undoubtedly affect the number of people coming to the village from surrounding local areas and thereby impact heavily on the economic and social wellbeing of the village.
Village/Location: Knightsfield WGC

My husband and I run our own business and regularly use the services of our local Barclays Bank and the Post Office in Welwyn. At the moment it is very easy to just pop down but if we had to pay for parking we may have to go elsewhere. Also, we have young children and are registed with the village doctors surgery. If they are unwell I take them in the car and would not be happy at all to have to pay to park.
Village/Location: Welwyn

The WHBC website says “consultation has begun with the residents in Welwyn about proposed parking changes…”. What about residents of the outlying areas? We HAVE to drive in and will be hardest hit by parking changes. The majority of residents can walk to the village centre in safety. The “Dear Resident” letter displayed on the WHBC website, certainly didn’t reach me in Oaklands.
Charging for the short stay car park in the High Street, but not the short stay street spaces, penalises those that need a safer environment to load/unload their vehicles – like parents of young children and elderly drivers/passengers – and makes no sense.
I have never experienced a problem finding parking space in Welwyn Village & would love to hear the argument that charging for some of it would “alleviate” such issues in any case. Is it expected that those that can’t afford to park will stay away? In what way does that support village life?
Village/Location: Oaklands

I cannot afford the fees required for a season ticket, I do not want to clog up local residential roads, therefore I would have to seek employment elsewhere, as I am mature I am not sure I can get another job.
Village/Location: High Street

Please DO NOT go ahead with this – having lived here for 33 years I value the village life we all currently enjoy. Paying for parking will definitely damage the friendly community spirit of the village. As a pensioner I do not want to pay for the ‘privilege’ of parking when I need to shop in the village & the bus service out-of-school-hours from my home is very infrequent. ‘Length of parking time’ restriction is not too serious – and which has already been imposed – but payment for parking should definitely NOT be imposed and I strongly object to this proposal.
Village/Location: WELWYN, HERTFORDSHIRE

Residents of Tewin have to travel to Welwyn to visit the doctor’s and as there is no public transport we have to go by car . The imposition of car park charges will add to the expense and cause additional anxiety about having coins handy and whether the wait will exceed the pre-paid time etc. Users of the Civic Centre occassionally have to park in the High Street and may choose not to do so if charges are levied. Convenience shopping will be deterred if charges have to be paid.
Village/Location: Tewin

THIS IS A MISTAKE FOR OUR VILLAGE
Village/Location: Carleton Rise, Welwyn

In addition to ruining the spirit of our little village. This is blatant slealth tax against mainly the only people who use these facilities and roads – the residents themselves!
Village/Location: Oaklands, Welwyn

Concerned resident of Hobbs Hill – I have no parking – so rely on leaving my car on nearby residential streets.
Village/Location: Hobbs Hill

This is a cynical attempt initiated by Finance to plug gaps in funding, kept out of the public domain by restricting documentation to Council minutes only, and only retrospectively justified as “addressing” the non-existant parking problems in Welwyn. The only issue in Welwyn is the infrequent enforcement of existing parking restrictions.
Village/Location: Welwyn

There is huge opposition to these revenue raising exercise, particularly amongst the elderley who rely on being able to park without charge in order to visit the doctors surgery, post office, bakers and Tesco Express which are the most popular visits. Please, do not go against the wishes of the very many as the risk to local business is very real and the loss of a vital amenity for those who find difficulty in getting around would be a grossly unfair blow to their mobility and ease of access to all village amenities.
Village/Location: Harmer Green

I have never found parking a great problem, but can see there may be some in the High St. park if charges with time limits are introduced, as careful manoeuvring is often needed on exit. At Bridge Cottage surgery, the dental surgery, hairdressers and pubs, patients and clients will usually need much more than 30 minutes, sometimes over 90 minutes. Lockleys Drive is a fair walk to, say, the surgery, for less able-bodied patients. These charges will discourage visitors, leading to closure of small shops and loss of local jobs.
Village/Location: Digswell

I can see no advantage in these proposals except to bring in added revenue to the council coffers. This proposal will increase the problem of parking especially for patients visiting the surgery. Have you considered the possibility of the first hour free and then making a charge? This could easily be done via the scheme in place in WGC where the cameras are used.
Village/Location: Oaklands

If the proposal to introduce parking charges in the Village goes ahead, retailers, offices, restaurants and pubs – the lifelines of the community – will suffer, close and move elsewhere.
Village/Location: Welwyn

There is no parking problem in the village. Parking charges are a different method of taxing. Why are our car parks owned by HCC and not by the parish ?
Village/Location: Broomfield road

I have sent a long email to Mr. Jewell after reviewing all the online documentation concerning the ill thought out scheme. I am happy to forward this to others. Two interesting points: (1) It would seem that Welwyn is being used as a ginny pig for other locations (see http://coins.welhat.gov.uk/viewDoc.asp?c=e%97%9Db%96iz%8F para 5 ). The consultation period breaks county council rules: information on consultation periods on the Welwyn Hatfield (WH) website (http://www.welhat.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=4392&p=0) states that you are required to “consult the public who are directly affected (residents/businesses) for their views – for a period of 21 days”. The letter I received was dated Sep 5 with a response by Sep 23. We did not receive it (by mail) until Sep 8. In either case, we are not been given 21 days.
Village/Location: Roman Way

This proposal really will affect the village detrimentally.
Village/Location: Robbery Bottom Lane, Welwyn

The village community will be destroyed by these charges. It will mean people will not use the shops which will then close. It will be a disaster for our community.
Village/Location: Welwyn (Oaklands)

I believe the proposal is ill thought through and will be to the detriment of village life and traders. When the Wellington was closed we witnessed the effect on trade in the village. Restricting parking and introducing charges will dissuade people from using the village have a similar effect. The effect on local residents has also been ignored. We do not want residents permits and parking restrictions in the surrounding residential areas. It all works ok at the moment – leave us alone.
Village/Location: Welwyn

This will be detrimental to the village with the decline of visitors/shop closures/loss of the community – leading to a dead village centre.
Village/Location: Welwyn – Carleton Rise

I urge the council to reconsider its decision as the effect on the businesses in the village will be catastrophic.
Village/Location: United Kingdom

A potentially disastorous proposal to our little community. Let’s hope the council see sense.
Village/Location: Welwyn

Car park charges, which would deter people from visiting and shopping in the village, would bring about the decline of the village businesses and shops amd hence a net reduction in council income.
Village/Location: Harvest Court

I fully endorse the aims of this petition. It would be a crazy and counter-pruductive measure to introduce parking charges to Welwyn village. The impact on the life of the village – and especially to most of the small businesses – would be disastrous.
Village/Location: Oaklands, Welwyn

Paid parking will deter visitors adding further strain to a high street where the retail base has declined over the years
Village/Location: UK

Just how can WHDC expect callers to the local Surgery to park and PAY !! The time spent at the surgery can vary dramatically so how on earth would a driver know how much to pay ?? A possible answer is to allow FREE parking as now with a strict time limit of say 2 hours and a fine for over staying this period. A simple answer which even the Councillors of WHDC ( who are supposed to represent us by the way) ought to be intelligent enough to understand, but I do wonder if they are even considering imposing a charging change !
Village/Location: Welwyn

This is a crazy proposal and will result is LESS income to WHDC than now with lower profits by shopowners leading to closures and loss of revenue to WHDC far inexcess of any car parking fees as use of car parks would reduc.
Village/Location: UK – Welwyn

Every village has a parking “problem” but only because everyone wants to park close to their home, shop, office restaurant or whatever. Simple extension of existing short and long term parking definitions combined with banishing long term parking by non-residents and non-local workers would result in better use of the existing 300 parking spaces available in the village. These new arrangements could be managed by extending the area patrolled by the existing traffic wardens
Village/Location: Welwyn