Scrapping cash parking payments is 'not forcing people to do anything they don't want'

Cheshire East Council has defended its introduction of cashless payments across the borough's car parks saying they are not forcing people do anything they do not want to.

Most of the Council's car parks became 'cash-free' on 2nd December 2024, with at least one car park* in every town continuing to accept cash payments.

Richard Slater raised a number of questions about the impact of introducing cashless payments during public speaking time at a meeting of the full council on Wednesday, 26th February.

He asked "What research has been carried out to assess the potential damage to retail businesses in Macclesfield as shoppers may be opting to shop out of town or online.

"Secondly, what has been the reduction in the car parking revenue since cash payments were removed.

"Number three, you'll agree that the more vulnerable are more likely to fall victim in theft or scam, which has been seen this week, or have their cards or phone stolen at a machine than they would if they had a few coins in their pocket. Has this been assessed to?"

Councillor Mark Goldsmith, Chair of highways and transport committee responded "Cashless payments were introduced in 2007, now only 12% of all transactions are now in cash. The consumers are voting with their feet. We are not forcing people to do anything they don't want, nothing they don't already do when they go and visit retailers, all we are doing is reflecting what is happening in society.

"We also know from others societies around the world like Sweden they have gone totally cashless, it's a trend that is likely to continue."

He added "Yes we did do a full impact quality assessment to ensure that nobody suffers from this. Anybody who is a blue badge holders doesn't pay to use our car parks anyway so they are not affected.

"In terms of whether it is less safe, I would disagree with that entirely with that because I don't see any reason to differ between somebody getting out their purse or wallet to getting a card out. They also have the ability to pay remotely by the smart phone and the RingGo app which they can do from the safety of their own car if they feel vulnerable or threatened to visit a machine."

Regarding the impact on parking revenue, Cllr Goldsmith said "In terms of overall payments, payments were down by 8% across the board because of the weather affecting all car parks, and people staying at home, so the car parks in Macclesfield are not unduly affected in any other way."

He added "Overall, we are taking more money after this policy decision than we were beforehand."

* Local car parks that will still accept cash payments:

South Street, Alderley Edge
School Road, Handforth
South Drive (both long and short stay areas), Wilmslow