Parking times could be reduced at St Johns in Warwick to allow more flow of customers

Cllr John Holland receives the petition from Michael Michaels at Shire Hall in Warwick.

Michael Michaels of St Johns Fish Bar at St Johns launched the petition in an attmept to have the length of time people cal park in the bays outside his shop reduced from two hours to 30 minutes.

And more than 500 people have backed the campaign with their signature.

Mr Michael’s said: “The lack of parking spaces causes problems for customers at times when the area is very busy.

“I believe this situation would be improved if the parking times were reduced from two hours to 30 minues.

“Most of the shops along here do not need their customers to be there for longer than half an hour and this would allow more customers to come and go.”

Mr Michaels believes the spaces are mostly being used by those who use the bars and restaurants further up into the town and that customers for the St John’s shops, which include a One Stop convenience store, a William Hill bookmakers a Subway and a Domino’s Pizza, normally only need to drop in.

He said: “It is nice to see that so many people share the same view as me and want to support the businesses along here.

“What makes it a stronger argument are that these are the people that use this place the most often.”

The petition was handed over to Warwickshire county councillor John Holland (Lab, Warwick West) who has now presented it to the authority.

Cllr Holland said a public consultation into the change of parking times will be launched soon.

He said: “For there to be more than 500 signatures it shows there is a strong feeling about this among the public.

“It us certainly very unusual for this many people to sign a petition for changes of this nature.

“Parking regulation changes only take place once per year due to the cost of the legal work so any changes would not come into effect until the new year.”

Ricky Cartwright, manager of One Stop in St Johns, said he was not aware of the petition but said that he was surprised that parking was allowed for two hours in the area anyway.

He said: “Most of my customers don’t need that long to shop here but I never really thought about problems with the parking I’m usually too busy.

“I’m sure it would help them come and go a lot easier if the times were reduced.”