ANOTHER business group has joined the push to head off a move to introduce on-street parking charges to Tavistock.

Tavistock Chamber of Commerce is joining the campaign to stop the suggested charging.

Tim Randell, chamber chairman, said: ‘This such a dreadful idea. I can’t understand who or why anyone would want to come up with such an idea.

‘We need to know how this idea came about and the details and reasoning behind it. It’s hard to understand the logic. We already have one hour’s free parking in the town centre. So, if it’s all about churn (high turn around) of traffic and customers, as I understand is the main reasoning behind the plan, then that already happens. Therefore, how beneficial will bringing in charges be? I can only think it will make things worse because people will just not come into the town centre.’

He said the chamber was working out a joint communique to the county council with Tavistock BID (the Business Improvement District), West Devon Borough Council and Tavistock Town Councils. The chamber was due to have a meeting of members and other guests this week to hear concerns and how they would like the group to approach the issue.

Meanwhile, BID has raised a petition and crowdfunding campaign to fight the plan. The petition had reached nearly 1,500 earlier this week, while donations reached more than £400. The BID’s Stop the Meters campaign can be reached here: https://www.tavistockbid.co.uk/stop-the-meters-campaign

The county council says charging would boost trade, encourage car park and public transport use.