We asked people in Leeds what they thought about the city council's proposal to introduce car parking charges at Roundhay Park.
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00:00 So Leeds City Council looks set to bring in parking charges at the car parks here in Roundhay Park.
00:06 What impact will that have on your business and what impact will that have on people visiting the park?
00:11 Well we're concerned because we know that people use the park and visit us in particular as one of the ways they get out and about to meet others.
00:21 So it's a really good social engagement time for them.
00:25 But also from a fitness perspective it's really important for people.
00:29 So from our point of view equally we're obviously also worried about the fact it will impact our numbers and it'll just be another challenge for a small business to have to face.
00:37 So it looks like Leeds City Council is going to introduce parking charges which it recently consulted on.
00:42 What are your thoughts on that and what effect do you think it would have on your business?
00:46 I feel very very strongly that car parking charges should be implemented because the park actually belongs to the people of Leeds.
00:53 A lot of people, you may already know that John Barron in 1871 bought the park for the people of Leeds.
00:59 The park should be kept free for people to use. It's important for their health and welfare and certainly became very important during the pandemic.
01:08 We as a business are based here. We have people just calling in for a cup of coffee at the tea rooms or calling in for a gift and a card here.
01:17 They're walking their dogs, they're getting the fresh air. It's important for the people of Leeds that we maintain the park as free and open for everybody.
01:27 So Leeds City Council looks set to bring parking charges into the car parks at Roundhay Park. What effect do you think that will have on the park?
01:35 I think there'll be more parking on Roundhay Road where people will just park further away and walk up and park in the streets around the back.
01:44 I don't think it'll significantly change the number. It might be less people that come but I don't think it'll significantly reduce the number of people.
01:52 I think they might just park a little further away.
01:54 Do you think that's a bit of a concern for people who might live on the streets nearby the park potentially?
01:59 Yeah, because you'll get double parking which you get already at the moment at the bottom of Legit Park Road.
02:04 It's very congested down there and I think you'll get more of that up around the soldiers fields.
02:12 So it looks like Leeds City Council is going to introduce car parking charges in its car parks here at Roundhay Park.
02:18 What are your thoughts on that and would you still visit if they do that?
02:22 The short answer would be probably yes because it's a nice park and it does need maintaining an upkeep.
02:30 But it would rather depend on the charges that they're going to apply really.
02:35 I think there's a balance between charging what's reasonable and what's going to put people off.
02:41 And what about yourself?
02:42 Well I just come around here and I like watching all this around here on the Waterloo Lake.
02:54 The lake?
02:54 Yeah.
02:55 Yeah.
02:56 Yeah, we don't really know the name of the lake do we?
02:58 We know the dog likes to go in it.