Navan free christmas parking move branded a failure

The fact that a free parking initiative in Navan did not extend into the days before Christmas came under fire at a meeting of Navan Municipal District this week.
Cllr Francis Deane proposed that there be free parking in Navan on the last seven days before Christmas from now on after a change last Christmas saw the initiative end a week before Christmas.
He said free parking right up to Christmas had been the case from 2009 to 2013, but there had been much confusion this year among retailers and consumers. “Replacing it with the initiative from 13th to 18th December in 2014 was unsuccessful,” he said.
COuncil administrative officer Alan Rogers said that traditionally it had been the seven days before Christmas that was given free, but the thinking behind it in 2014 was to give the town a boost earlier in the month as the town would be very busy during Christmas Week anyway.
He said they would be trying this year to get some consistency among all the towns in the county as regards free parking.
Cllr Joe Reilly said it didn’t make sense putting in such a huge effort to attract people to the town, then in the last week when people were doing their shopping, to take away the free parking.
He pointed out that the free parking in Trim extended up to 24th December and in Kells it was continuing into January.