Free festive parking in town

Shoppers will be able to park for free on Saturdays from 17th November to 22nd December boosting town centre trade.

Coun Gerald Smith, Cabinet member for regeneration and development, said the council was ‘delighted’ to be able to offer this early Christmas present to local people and the traders in Rotherham.

He added: “One of the key recommendations in the Mary Portas High Street Review was that town centres like Rotherham should introduce local parking initiatives to boost trade.”

“We’ve seen the benefits of that in previous years over the Christmas shopping period and that’s why we were so keen to make sure it happened again this year.”

“It’s vitally important that we get as many people as possible into Rotherham as they do their Christmas shopping so they can experience what we have to offer, particularly from our independent traders, who are pulling out all the stops to give shoppers that bit extra this festive season.”

The free Saturday parking only applies to council owned car parks and on-street parking and maximum waiting time restrictions still apply.

All charges will be re-introduced again on Saturdays from 29th December.

The cost of introducing the scheme this year has been covered by a £28,000 allocation from the Council’s Rotherham Economic Regeneration Fund.

The Christmas free parking initiative is another way council has worked with businesses and other organisations to boost the town centre, helping the recent upturns in footfall figures and a reduction in shop vacancy rates.