Is the rise in charges for using cars to visit our favourite businesses and retailers a threat to our high streets?
£17.25. That is what I paid to park in Edinburgh last week while I had my hair cut and coloured. Yes, I could have taken the bus. In reality, that would have meant two buses and a journey of over an hour each way instead of a 25-minute drive.
Like many working mothers, time is often my scarcest resource. Four hours at the hairdresser was already pushing the limits before collecting children from school, racing between dance classes and attempting to squeeze everything else into the day.
I know there are obvious solutions. Find a different hairdresser. Go somewhere with free parking. However, that misses the point.
I’ve been going to the same independent hairdresser for more than 10 years because I believe in supporting small businesses. After Covid, soaring rents and rising business rates forced my hairdresser to leave Edinburgh city centre and downsize the salon. Loyal customers, including me, followed.
The parking charge didn’t stop me getting my hair done nor did it stop me supporting a business I’ve trusted for more than a decade. What stopped me browsing afterwards was the reality of being a working mum. School pick-up wasn’t going to wait. Dance classes, homework, dinner, emails and everything else that fills modern family life were already queuing up behind my appointment.
That experience is far from unique. The Office for National Statistics estimates employed mothers still undertake around 53% more unpaid childcare than fathers. Alongside that comes the invisible mental load of organising family life, from birthday presents and PE kits to medical appointments, food shopping and remembering countless details that simply live in our heads. Women are also among the high street’s most valuable customers.
Research by YouGov found that 26% of women shop for clothing and lifestyle items at least once a month, compared with 17% of men, while 44% say they buy clothes because something catches their eye while browsing in store. Those spontaneous purchases are exactly what many independent retailers rely upon.
However, that £17.25 stayed with me. It made me think about all the other occasions when I’m driving between meetings, school runs and children’s activities. Those are the moments when I might stop to browse an independent boutique, buy a birthday card, pick up a gift or grab a cup of tea. Increasingly, another parking charge makes me think twice. Those lost opportunities rarely make the headlines, yet multiplied across thousands of busy consumers every day, they may matter far more than we realise.
That is why the debate unfolding in North Berwick caught my attention.
At first glance, it appears to be a straightforward argument about parking charges. Residents have protested, businesses have voiced concerns, politicians have called for the scheme to be paused and East Lothian Council has defended its approach – yet after speaking to business owners, reviewing the available evidence and following the debate closely, I have become convinced this is not really a story about parking at all.
It is a story about barriers. Scottish high streets are already navigating one of the most challenging trading environments in decades. Rising business rates, higher National Insurance contributions, inflation, soaring operating costs, online competition and changing consumer behaviour have all reshaped the retail landscape. According to the Scottish Retail Consortium, Scottish retail sales grew by just 0.3% over the past year while visits to retail destinations continued to decline. Against that backdrop, it is perhaps understandable that another perceived obstacle would generate such a passionate response.
The evidence, however, also reminds us to avoid simplistic conclusions. Research into town centre regeneration consistently suggests parking charges alone neither determine nor prevent high street success. Instead, thriving town centres depend upon a combination of accessibility, retail mix, local economic conditions, public realm quality, leisure, hospitality and changing consumer behaviour. Parking policy is simply one part of a much wider place-making strategy.
That complexity was reflected in the conversations I had with businesses in North Berwick.
Katy Wakefield, owner of Move Yoga, has not seen attendance at her wellbeing studio decline since the parking charges were introduced. People continue to travel specifically for her classes. What she has noticed, however, is a subtle but potentially significant change in behaviour.
“The biggest thing I’ve noticed isn’t whether people come to North Berwick, it’s how long they’re staying,” she told me. “Previously clients would come to a class, go for a coffee, browse the shops or meet a friend. Now they’re arriving, attending the class and heading straight home.” This immediately resonated with me. I still went to my hairdresser. I simply didn’t have the time, and perhaps not the inclination after paying to park, to linger afterwards.
Wakefield believes success should be measured differently. “The parking space turnover is one measure of success but really a thriving town is the bigger measure of success,” she explained.
This is a profound point. Perhaps the true measure of a successful high street is not how many cars arrive, but how long people stay, how many businesses they visit and whether they leave feeling they have experienced something worth returning for. Laura Thomas, founder of Laura Thomas Co, shared a different perspective altogether. Her business has not experienced a downturn in sales since the parking charges were introduced.
“If I’m honest and looking at the figures, we have not seen a downturn in sales since the parking charges came in. Visitors seem to be used to parking charges. It’s the locals that it is impacting more.”
Her experience is equally important because it reminds us there is no single business experience. A destination brand with customers travelling from across Scotland may be affected very differently from a café or retailer relying on local footfall and impulse purchases. That nuance matters.
Another aspect of the debate struck me as I tried to understand the parking scheme itself. Although the charges are considerably lower than those I paid in Edinburgh, I found myself repeatedly checking maps, tariffs, exemptions and time limits to work out exactly how the system operated.
Cost is only one barrier; complexity can be another. If someone researching the issue professionally finds it difficult to navigate, what does that mean for an occasional visitor arriving in North Berwick for the first time?
Simplicity matters. Every layer of complexity becomes another psychological barrier to visiting a high street. That challenge may be greater for older visitors, less comfortable navigating parking apps, QR codes or digital payment systems. This is not about resisting technology; it is about recognising that good town planning should remove friction wherever possible. If we genuinely want people to support local businesses, the journey should feel welcoming, not confusing.
Interestingly, for a topic that has dominated local headlines and generated such passionate debate across social media, the silence became part of the story. As I researched this article, several conversations began but never quite found the time to happen. I contacted business owners, the local campaign group and Paul McLennan MSP, but not everyone was able to contribute before my deadline.
Rather than frustrating me, it made me pause. It was a reminder independent business owners wear every hat. They are serving customers, unpacking deliveries, paying suppliers, supporting staff and trying to navigate yet another challenging trading season.
When every hour matters, speaking publicly about the issues affecting the high street understandably slips down the priority list. Sometimes simply opening the doors each morning and keeping the business going has to come first. Perhaps that tells us as much as any interview could.
North Berwick has become the focus of a national conversation but I suspect the parking charges are symbolic of something much bigger. They represent one more barrier in a system already full of barriers. One more cost to consider, one more complication to navigate and one more decision that nudges people towards the easier option.
None of those barriers, in isolation, will determine the future of a high street. Together, however, they create friction. And friction changes behaviour.
Wakefield perhaps summed it up best when she reflected: “People don’t fall in love with North Berwick because it’s convenient. They fall in love with it because it’s how it makes them feel.”
Having spent more than a decade teaching retail marketing while running my own retail business, I know she is right. The future of high streets will never be secured by free parking alone, nor undermined by parking charges alone. It will depend on whether we create places that people genuinely want to spend time in, where supporting an independent business feels easy rather than difficult, and where every decision strengthens the experience rather than adding another obstacle.
North Berwick’s parking charges may not determine the future of the town. The evidence suggests the story is far more complex than that. But every new financial, practical or psychological barrier asks people to think twice before choosing local. At a time when independent businesses are already navigating unprecedented pressures, perhaps every policy should begin with one simple question: does this make it easier for people to choose local?
Perhaps the question is not whether we can justify one more parking charge – it is whether our high streets can afford the cost of one more barrier. n
Dr Antoinette Fionda-Douglas is co-founder of Beira, and assistant professor at Heriot-Watt University
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