A range of free parking offers will be on offer this month, starting on Small Business Saturday (5th December).
Shoppers will get opportunities to park for free in council car parking across the Island as they head back to town centre shops and traders for COVID-19 safe shopping this festive season.
Most stores and businesses will be open as normal, and despite the unusual trading conditions this year there will be some attractive deals to be had on Isle of Wight quality goods and produce.
As part of the council’s emphasis on safer shopping, free parking won’t be limited to a few days this year but spread out to allow shoppers to choose less busy times to visit their favourite stores.
On Small Business Saturday, there will be free off-street parking in council long-stay car parks across the Island between 12:00 and 18:00.
With financial support from Newport and Carisbrooke Community Council, there will be 30 minutes of free on-street parking in Newport from Monday 7th December every day until New Year’s Eve.
Off-street parking in council long-stay car parks in all parts of the Island will be free from 15:00 until 18:00 every day from next Monday 7th December until New Year’s Eve.
On Christmas Eve, for those last-minute purchases, there will be free off-street parking in every long-stay council car park all day until 18:00.
Councillor Wayne Whittle said:
“We’re supporting local business throughout the month because it’s the right thing to do in this pandemic.
“Business owners across the whole Island are working hard to keep everyone safe, and you can expect that as stores reopen, they will have new ways to shop and keep staff and customers socially distant.
“We must not let our guard down: we all need think of our Island community, so please make good choices and shop safely this festive season.”
Councillor Julie Jones-Evans explained:
“It’s a great example of the Shaping Newport partnership in action, supporting the community and emphasising the value of our historic county town as a destination for the whole island.
Newport and Carisbrooke Community Council is happy to subsidise the scheme, to not only encourage people to come to Newport but also as an extra boost for those many traders who have been working so hard to support their customers and keep going through the COVID-19 crisis.”
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha free…… yeah thanks council….. for the 4% council tax increase to pay for it all and the eighth inflation busting increase in consecutive years….. ha free. Thats funny.
Making it free for 3 hours is just going to concentrate shoppers to those 3 hours, why not all day or 9 – 6, im sure they will get more in £30 fines than lost in revenue due to the confusion.
Of course they know that, it’s why free on street parking is a miserly 30mins (always been a lucrative target area for traffic wardens).
– One can’t do anything much in that time, except dash for one or two items – don’t linger or they’ll get you !!
So this meens or should i say means they will put the fees up in January.we get nothing for nothing on this island.
these self serving leeches won’t be affected…their pay has.been uninterrupted throughout this whole year.
their hypocrisy knows no bounds.
this conjures up images of them sitting around a table, eating heartily, next to a warm, open fire, inside a beautifully decorated house, whilst the rest of us, peer through the snow and ice covered windows, longing to find a way of quelling the feelings of starvation and the cold, bitter winds of exclusion.
Too little too late. Parking charges in the towns should never been there in the first place. Surely the shop keepers pay enough with Buissiness rates , just more money to pay all those big fat cats in council positions.
sorry,,.. can you explain again, exactly when, and where, it’s free??
why so confusing??….
is this just another ploy by IWC to fool people into not paying for parking, & having traffic wardens waiting to pounce & ticket them as soon as they leave their cars ?
If they were really offering help to help, they should just make all parking free everywhere, all the time
The rate at which the shops are closing in Newport there will be nothing left worth visiting – so folk won’t bother, therefore no revenue for parking charges will be made by the council.
Council you are really not helping business trade at all are you ?????
They must be planning a rise in some thing or taking a pay cut pmpl
So why discriminate against morning shoppers?
Words fail me.
Car parking shoulkd be free if the council wants Island high streets to survive.
Yep, but I think it is too late for Newport.
This is where so many people get confused the IOW council is in charge of parking and the fees. If you read the article properly the Parish Council have stepped in to subsidies the free parking. It is something positive the PARISH council have done. How many of the moaners here voted in the last election or put themselves up for election. You all seem to know better.
Too late! Damage done!
The local elections are coming soon, so the council are busy putting the ‘we aren’t scum’ caps on to try and pull a fast one on the electorate.