A Southport businessman is calling on local residents to ‘spend local’ to help the town rebuild after the coronavirus outbreak.
Lee Durkin, who has worked in his family business, MD Joinery, since 1997, would also like to see Sefton Council allow some parking concessions in the town in order to help local businesses to recover after spending four months in lockdown.
The Birkdale resident said: “Our local, independent businesses need all the help they can get as they try hard to rebuild and to win back customers after such a traumatic few months.
“For parking, I am appealing to Sefton Council to consider two options.
“The first would be free parking on Sundays, which would also benefit people attending services at town centre churches including Holy Trinity, St Marie’s, St George’s United Reform Church and Lord Street West Church.
“People wanting to attend their local church shouldn’t have to ‘pray and display’.
“It would also be a huge boost to Southport’s shops, restaurants and other businesses if people could park for free every Sunday, just as they could do when Pay and Display was first introduced in Southport.
“Secondly, I would like to see first hour parking free in Southport throughout the week.
“Again this would be a huge help to local businesses.
“Most banks in the surrounding villages such as Ainsdale, Birkdale and Churchtown have closed in recent years, so customers must now use the town centre branches, and have to pay for the privilege.
“The average time needed to bank their takings, or to access other services they need, is roughly 30 minutes.
“One hour free parking would accommodate this, as well as hopefully giving some spare time for those business owners to pick up something on the way back to their car from one of the many independent shops in our town, or a quick coffee from one of our great independent coffee shops.”
Mr Durkin is also calling on people across Southport to put local shops first in order to help them survive.
He welcomes news of investment happening in Southport, but believes people’s shopping habits need to change if our independent shops are to benefit from that.
He said: “Investment in our town is happening, from Southport Town Deal to the marvellous work Norman Wallis is doing at Southport Pleasureland, to the new ventures being opened along Lord street to name but a few.
“But the message at the moment is very clear – to really support Southport’s high streets we must spend local!
“By clicking on ‘add to basket’ we are sealing the fate of more shops on the high street.
“For many in retail, the combination of rents plus rates plus online shopping plus parking charges equals a reduction in shops on our high streets.
“This has resulted in a change of shopping habits. In 2010 the UK spent £50bn online. In 2011 online sales reached £68bn, growing to £106bn last year. This number will continue to grow unless we make a drastic change.
“We all want to see choice, we want to enjoy different types of shops on Lord Street and the surrounding roads, and we all want cheap parking.
“But are we all ready to shop local? Next time you go to click ‘add to basket’ while doing an online shop, stop! Think to yourself, could I buy this locally? More often than not the answer will be yes.”
Do you have a story for Stand Up For Southport? Please message Andrew Brown via Facebook here or email me at: [email protected]
