The shop windows are decked out in their festive finery, there are carols on the stereos and the tills are ringing. The independent stores, cafes and restaurants lining Hill Road in the Somerset seaside town of Clevedon are hoping to take advantage of the crucial pre-Christmas period.
The street’s colourful shops, along with the town’s Victorian pier, are among Clevedon’s best-known landmarks, making Hill Road popular with locals and visitors. It even stood in for the high street in the ITV drama Broadchurch.
However, Hill Road’s traders are looking ahead to the new year with concern after proposals by North Somerset council to introduce car parking charges on local streets.
They fear customers will be deterred if they have to pay to park, which could reduce footfall, hit trade and even threaten their livelihoods.
“We’re greater than the sum of our parts. People come here as a destination. It’s the eclectic mix of independents, it’s the community,” says Sandy Prater, the owner of Fizz gallery, which has recently celebrated its 20th anniversary on Hill Road.
Surrounded by paintings of Bristol’s famous Clifton suspension bridge and displays of ornaments, Prater says the council’s introduction of parking charges in neighbouring Nailsea in the summer has already had a worrying impact on local businesses.
Amid a backdrop of rising costs, consumers reining in their spending and an uncertain economic environment, the traders fear parking fees could be the final straw for some. They are calling on the local authority to reconsider and recently handed in a petition against the proposed charges signed by more than 3,300 people.
Prater adds: “Research shows that when people have to pay, they don’t come as often. We’ve seen it decimate towns and small areas of independents up and down the country.”
Indeed, it is a scene being played out across Britain: North Somerset is just one of the country’s cash-strapped councils that has looked to introduce or increase parking charges in a bid to boost its income. It’s a trend that has been greeted with dismay by traders from St Albans to Surrey and Shropshire.
Clevedon shoppers can currently park for free on Hill Road and other surrounding streets for two hours. The parking restrictions apply between 8am and 6pm from Monday to Saturday.
The council is proposing giving drivers 30 minutes of free parking, before charging £1.50 for a one-hour stay, £2.50 for two hours and £3 for the maximum three-hour stay. The charges would be in operation from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday.
Prater fears even nominal fees could deter visitors: “Those popping in on the way home or on the way through just to grab a pint of milk, a birthday card, you would be amazed at how many times that turns into the sale of something quite significant,” she explains.
“Those people are not going to add parking charges to that £2.50 card or £1.50 bottle of milk.”
The sloping terrain around Hill Road – the clue is in the name – means there isn’t space for a car park, requiring visitors to park on the street. On the day the Guardian visited, almost all the spaces were taken, which the traders insist highlights the street’s popularity.
The current parking rules suit the brides-to-be who visit Devvon Wilsher-Day’s shop So Gorgeous Bridal to try on wedding dresses.
“Customers come for two-hour appointments, so it works fantastically for us at the moment, because of the two hours free parking,” she says, sitting next to racks of lace and satin creations.
Wilsher-Day acknowledges her customers might be willing to pay for parking, but calls the council’s plans “shortsighted”.
“If people are coming to Clevedon and spending money in the shops here and local residents run the shops and spend money back in the economy, it’s a wonderful thing,” she says.
Wilsher-Day and her mother moved their shop to Clevedon just 18 months ago after years based in a suburb of nearby Weston-super-Mare, where they believe the introduction of parking charges contributed to the decline of the local high street.
North Somerset first set out its parking proposals in 2024, saying it would apply a consistent approach to on-street parking, council-owned car parks and other land it owns.
It said one of its goals was to create “well-managed and well-maintained parking facilities” that “support local economies” while responding to the challenges of the climate crisis and fostering healthy communities.
It also announced its ambitions for “parking that is self-funding where possible or which creates surplus for the council” to be invested back into parking and transport.
Local authorities introducing parking charges often refer to earlier research suggesting that having to pay to park does not have a negative effect on town centre footfall, while “free” parking is typically covered by taxpayers when the local authority has to pay for the upkeep of spaces and enforcement of the regulations.
However, the Hill Road traders are not persuaded by this, says David Sims, who owns the independent bookshop Books on the Hill. “If you look at the places where they’ve done those studies, they’re not here. They haven’t got characteristics like this.”
Sims and others worry customers will drive instead to the large Cribbs Causeway out-of-town shopping centre and retail park about 15 miles up the road, where parking is free, or shop online.
The council, run by a coalition of Liberal Democrats and independents, has not yet approved the parking charge proposals, nor set a date for their introduction.
However, it may face a legal challenge from among its own ranks, according to the Conservative councillor Chris Blades, who sits on North Somerset council and also chairs Clevedon town council.
“Along with the business improvement district we have got solicitors involved,” he says. “The town council is vehemently opposed.”
Some locals say North Somerset council has form. It spent about £1.5m to install – and subsequently remove – controversial “wiggly” road markings in Clevedon, which was labelled a “bizarre road scheme” by the RAC motoring organisation.
However, not everyone is opposed to the council’s plans. One resident, Paul Hitchcock, says: “As long as it’s brought in carefully, I think it’s inevitable. Part of me thinks it would stop the parking spaces from being blocked all day.”
A spokesperson for North Somerset council said the introduction of parking charges had been “subject to extensive engagement with the public” and it had considered “all views given”, resulting in a lower tariff being proposed for Hill Road than elsewhere.
They added: “In Nailsea, we have sold over 36,000 tickets since introducing charges and ticket data shows a month-on-month increase in car park use during that time.”