'Too little too late': Mixed reaction to Dudley Council's parking charge change
Dudley Council’s pledge to scrap controversial parking charges is ‘too little too late’ according to one town trader.
The authority is bringing back free parking for the first two hours on council-owned car parks in its budget for 2026/27, in a bid to boost town centre shopping.
While the change has been broadly welcomed it did not get a unanimous thumbs-up in Dudley, where delays to opening of the Metro tram line and disruption caused by work on a new bus interchange are also blamed for a drop in trade.
Dave Flavell has run a fruit and veg stall in the town centre market for 25 years. He said: “It’s too late, they can do as much free parking as they like but you can see, there is nobody about to serve.
“Once people have gone to a new place to shop they will carry on going there.
“We’ve had customers who have been coming here for 30 years say they are going to Bilston, they like it down there. It’s too little too late.”
In Dudley’s Fountain Arcade, where several shop units are vacant, Danyell Goodyear from Elizabeth Lorine Flowers was glad to hear charges are being cut.
She said: “It is a massive help, we lost a lot of people because no-one wants to pay to park, run in and buy a bunch of flowers.
“People are mainly using our website now and having things delivered, since parking charges footfall has dropped off a cliff.
“What’s coming in at the moment, I could do at home in my workshop.
“Why am I paying rent? If I was out of a lease I would have closed by now.”
On Dudley High Street, new restaurant Lahori Feast is also set to benefit from the changes.
Owner Saima Altaf said: “It is good news, customers were complaining. We prepare our food, it takes 15 or 20 minutes and if they need to keep an eye on parking people are not relaxed.
“They can sit with peace of mind, otherwise once they come in they have to run away because they get a ticket or their time is up.”
In Halesowen, BID manager Vicky Shakespeare said: “The news of the parking charge U-turn is hugely welcomed and not a second too soon.
“Since the introduction of the parking charges we have seen more and more businesses struggling to survive, some businesses have reported up to 30 percent reduction in their profits.
“Footfall had visibly dropped in the town even around the busy Christmas period.
“We can’t wait to see the High Street return to its former glory, we have events planned for the coming year and the time and effort our ‘In Bloom’ volunteers contribute to making the town look beautiful will yet again be worthwhile.”
Back at Dudley market, Mr Flavell, who said introducing parking charges cost him around 40 per cent of his trade, is not convinced the council has turned its finances around, which is why it says charges can be removed.
He said: “Our toilet is broken, Dudley Council said they haven’t got the money to repair it.
“We’ve got no toilet – four o’clock in the morning we get here and we can’t go to the toilet until nine o’clock; that with the money is rubbish, I don’t believe it.
