Facts about new parking regs

Firstly, the improvements to the management of the car park have been made in response to complaints and comments about the current procedures that have been received from local residents. I have responded to points raised in your article below, on reading I am sure you will agree that the parking strategy has been carefully considered by us, with the safety and wellbeing of visitors to Worksop town centre/and the Priory Shopping Centre, as our primary concern.

The CCTV system in the car park and centre is used in the prevention of crime and we ensure that we fully comply with the Data Protection Act, details of this are below for your information. It is nonsense to suggest that installing state-of-the-art cameras is some form of spying.

Anyone processing personal data must comply with the eight enforceable principles of good practice within the Data Protection Act. They say that data must be:

• Fairly and lawfully processed.

• Processed for limited purposes.

• Adequate, relevant and not excessive.

• Accurate.

• Not kept longer than necessary.

• Processed in accordance with the data subject’s rights.

• Secure.

• Not transferred to countries without adequate protection.

Personal data covers both facts and opinions about the individual. It also includes information regarding the intentions of the data controller towards the individual, although in some limited circumstances exemptions will apply. For example, it incorporates the concepts of ‘obtaining’, ‘holding’ and ‘disclosing’.

The centre ensures that the above principles are complied with at all times.

With regard to parking charges The Priory offers the lowest priced car parking in the town for shoppers. Our research shows that shopping visits to The Priory can be completed in under three hours and that is the level at which we have set the planned new measures. There is no increase in parking charges. One of the problems we face is that office users close to The Priory take advantage of the current system and park throughout the day, often making it difficult to genuine shoppers to find spaces. Our new measures will identify these long-term parkers. We do not want to offend any of our genuine customers.

Our initiative is designed to meet the complaints of local people, will provide more parking for genuine shoppers and is simply an application of new technology - three key aspects that are most certainly positive for Worksop town.

I am sure that you are aware that The Priory Shopping Centre team strive for customer service excellence, crime reduction and the safety of customers and tenants. We have helped to reduce crime in the town by 19%, as well as being awarded the Guardian Angel award by The Worksop Guardian. We were awarded the best security team in the UK 2013 at the British Security Industry Awards. I have also been asked to represent Worksop in a special task force aimed at retail crime by Ak Khan the local chief superintendent. I am also the secretary for Worksop Business Forum; we are dedicated individuals who devote our time to making Worksop and its community a better place!

Should you have any further concerns or issues that you would like to raise, then there are various ways you can contact me. These are listed below.

E: [email protected]

T: 01909 530 361

M: 07590 976 897

W: priory-shoppinq.co.uk

I hope that by working together in the way outlined we can jointly ensure the continued improvement of Worksop town centre and put the debate about car parking on a more sensible and factually based level.

I shall look forward to working with you in the future.

Lynette Bray

Priory Centre Manager