Yahoo News I visited Seaham to speak to businesses and residents about the new parking charges in the seaside town
When I was looking for a place to head for this week's feature, I decided to go back to Seaham, which I had previously visited two months ago, before the parking charges were brought in on the 15th of April. Now, I was going back to the seaside town to see how they had impacted businesses and residents.
My first stop on the way into Seaham was North Beach Coffee Bar, where I spoke to the owner, Sean Golightly, about how the business is faring in the new climate. Sean has been in communication with Durham County Council about trying to sort the parking situation outside the building.
Sean Golightly said: "We don't have a full understanding of the impact that this is having on us yet, but there has definitely been a noticeable decline in customers coming in. We have put £150,000 into the business and it feels like people haven't been on site and have properly planned the whole thing.
"The parking spaces themselves haven't been finished so this has cut down our capacity, there are no loading bays as well which makes things very difficult. It feels like the council have tried to build up Seaham as an area and more footfall has come into the town, but these parking charges will be having the opposite effect.
"People have told us that they won't be coming back because of the parking situation and I am not surprised. It feels like there wasn't enough forethought with this and that people in the council don't understand the pressures on local businesses."
Moving on to North Terrace, I headed into Creams of Seaham, where I spoke to business owner James Manors. James said: "It is still early days but there has been a difference that I have seen in the amount of people coming in, but the weather hasn't helped up until this point.
"We have had a lot of people in complaining about the parking confusion and I have been having to keep them right, so I am not sure how clear this has been made to people. The issue is that the older generation who aren't able to walk as far will struggle to deal with this.
"People would often come here and have a look in all of the different shops while they leisurely walk around but they can't do that now without paying £3. It's all about getting people involved and I don't know how successful this has been."
Brian and Andrea Clegg, a couple who are residents of Seaham, also spoke to me about their experience of the parking charges. Brian said: "The car park used to be really busy but it doesn't seem to be like that anymore, which is a shame as there is a lot of variety with the businesses.
Andrea added: "There used to be a real community feel here and I think that the negatives of the parking charges are effecting every business here. With the parking being from 8-6, hopefully the summer nights will still be busy in the best way."
My final stop was to Hidden on the Harbour, where I had a chat with Jeannette Walker, who is the manager of the bar. She spoke to me about the parking charges, as Hidden on the Harbour are offering to pay the £3 for their customers.
She said: "It has been unpredictable with the weather so we can't say for sure what the impact has been, but the car parks have been empty recently. The minimum wage has gone up and this has people talking online, so we decided to offer to pay for people's parking in order to try and help out.
"There are more businesses coming to Seaham and we want to be a welcoming neighbour as whatever benefits them benefits us too. Overall, we are not happy with the parking charges but are trying to make the best of the situation."
As I was leaving Seaham, I thought about what I had been told by the businesses and residents, and pondered what the introduction of the parking charges might mean for the seaside town. Ultimately, it remains to be seen just how much of an impact this will have on the amount of people that visit Seaham this summer.
In response to the comments made by businesses and residents, Kieron Moralee, Durham County Council’s Traffic Management Sector Manager, said: "The new charges, which are limited to six locations, bring Seaham into line with the rest of the car parks along the North East’s coast where charges are already in place.
"People can still park for free in numerous other sites around Seaham town centre, all of which are a short distance from the sea front. Our teams have been working in Seaham since the charges came in, looking out for any parking and traffic issues which may arise, and will continue to make regular visits."
