Chamber of Commerce
Survey
Pay and Display
Scheme, Churchfield Car Park, Camelford
Introduction
In
December of 2005, Camelford Chamber of Commerce was
asked by Camelford Association of Residents to carry
out a survey of local businesses to ascertain the effect the introduction of Pay
and Display parking at Churchfield Car Park was
having on trade.
Uptake
20
surveys were sent to businesses in
Results
Businesses
were asked to assess if Pay & Display had affected trade by selecting from
the following options:
a)
Has your business improved?
b)
Has your business remained the same?
c)
Has charging had
an adverse effect?
Of
the 18 responses returned, the results were as follows:
|
|
Number of replies |
Percentage of responses |
|
Has
your business improved? |
0 |
0% |
|
Has
your business remained the same? |
3 |
16.7% |
|
Has
charging had an adverse effect? |
15 |
83.3% |
Additional
Comments
Businesses
were also asked to provide any further comments that may be relevant.
Of
the respondents that reported a negative effect on trade, 11 of the 15
questionnaires contained additional information that can be summarised as
follows:
- 4 businesses have
calculated a loss in turnover ranging from 10% - 50%, compared with
average turnover for previous years.
- 1 business reported
a reduction in turnover of £1,800 in the week Pay & Display was
introduced, compared with the previous week.
- 3 businesses have
needed to reduce staff costs. This has resulted in the loss of at least 4
jobs within the town (1 respondent did not specify the number of staff discharged),
and a further 3 employees have had their working hours reduced. In
addition, 5 employees are facing possible redundancy in the near future.
- 1 business has lost
a supplier because of the reduced volume of orders.
- 1 business has lost
a contract due to reduced sales, resulting in a net loss of £4,000 per
annum.
- 7 businesses have
reported a reduction in ‘foot fall’ business. Of these respondents, 2 are
considered national companies.
Of
the respondents that reported no effect on trade, 2 of the 3 questionnaires
contained additional information that can be summarised as follows:
- 1 business has reported
a recent loss of trade, but believes that it is due to a general downturn
in their particular industry.
- 1 business states
that ‘foot fall’ trade has never been high, due to the nature of their
business.
- 1 business states
that there has been no downturn in their trade, but notes that customers
are using their business only, and are not visiting other traders in Camelford. Due to the nature of this business,
visiting other traders in Camelford while
waiting for their service to be carried out was previously not uncommon.
It
is interesting to note that the 3 respondents who
stated that they had not noticed an effect on their trade, are all businesses
that are not locally available elsewhere.
Conclusion
Camelford
Association of Residents has analysed the responses to this survey to produce
this report, and has taken the view that it is better to report factual
information, rather than make assumptions and draw conclusions from the
results. It is therefore up to the reader to draw their own conclusions from
the information provided.
Survey
response sheets are available to view, however personal identification will be
removed to protect respondents confidentiality.
Melanie Baber, Camelford Association of Residents
January 2006