'Constructive' meeting between traders and council over parking issue

A meeting between representatives of a group of Trim traders and the local town council to discuss issues around recent parking changes in the town has been described as constructive. Four representatives of local businesses met with Trim town clerk Brian Murphy, town manager Des Foley and cathaoirleach Cllr James O'Shea last Friday to discuss the parking issue. Joe Patterson of Trim Area Traders said the meeting had been "constructive" and their desire is to work with the council to get as many people as possible into the town. By doing so, the council would be in a better position regarding rates. Cllr O'Shea agreed the meeting had been positive and there had been good contributions from both sides and each knew each other's situation. He said the budgetary implications had been explained in detail and also the fact that if the budget had not been passed, the council would have been done away with, and that this meant tough decisions had to be made. "We were happy to meet the traders and there was good constructive dialogue," Cllr O'Shea said. The council chairman said he has instructed officials to revisit the budget and come back with costings and the financial implications of what would need to be done to reinstate, if possible, the 10-minute 'grace period' for parking on local streets. The impact of the changes to parking charges was also expected to be discussed at last night's (Tuesday) monthly meeting of Trim Town Council. Some 100 traders and business people attended last Tuesday night's meeting of Trim Area Traders to raise their concerns about the parking changes. The petition seeking a reversal of the grace period decision and circulated in local shops in recent weeks has been signed by more than 10,000 people. Last month, Trim Town Council adopted a budget which saw parking charges increase to €1 per hour, the minimum charge rise from 30c to 50c per hour and, most controversially, the removal of a free 10-minute grace period. Traders say the abolition of this free parking period, in particular, is having a detrimental impact on their business and they no longer had this advantage over other towns in the county. Mr Patterson said traders want to work with the council and local groups to do all they can to bring people into the town and increase footfall, adding that this would leave traders in a better position to pay rates. He said they are also planning to form a Local Heroes committee, similar to the recent project in Drogheda, and that they would be distributing letters to everyone in the town and surrounding areas about it within the next fortnight.