Debate contribution: On-street Parking Charges in Lisburn

Debate contribution by Mr Peter Martin on 11 November 2025.

MLA

Mr Peter Martin

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

11 November 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Adjournment

Heading

On-street Parking Charges in Lisburn

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5349841

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I do not think that I will make that bar, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am aware of the situation in Lisburn, and I will make some general comments around it. As I approached the debate, I learned that there were 240 on-street car parking spaces within the controlled zone that Mr McNulty referenced. I, too, have fallen victim to that — not in Lisburn, and certainly not in Newry, but in Bangor, where my office is located just across the way from an on-street car park. I have to admit that I have got a ticket, twice. The challenge for me was how I would manage to pay the fines without my wife finding out about them. I had to be expeditious in that regard. We are incredibly fortunate in Bangor in that we have free parking in those areas. It does not affect our residents in the same way that it does in Newry or Lisburn. The impact of that is that it encourages people to come into the shopping areas to shop, which is what we all want. As has been reflected in the debate, keeping the traffic flowing through a town is incredibly important in helping to keep the high street open. There is a wide range of views, and Mr Honeyford reflected some of them. We have to be cognisant of the need, from a business perspective, to ensure that that throughput is maintained. If we transferred all that car parking and said, "You can park here for four hours, free", businesses would come back and say, "That's too long, because those spaces need to be freed up so that other people can come in and shop in the area".

Let us bear it in mind that local businesses are competing with large out-of-town shopping centres that offer free car parking. While the signs may say that it is four hours, it is for as long as people want it to be.

I also have a question for the Minister. I am cognisant of the fact that she may not know the answer, so I am more than happy for her to get back to me in writing. Minister, last month, you signalled that a new parking enforcement contract was coming into effect. I quote:

"It will enhance the overall user experience of car parking in Northern Ireland."

Are you willing and able to outline what the strategy will achieve? The Committee may have a look at the matter. There are definitely areas of compromise, and I agree with my colleague and others in the Chamber that the idea of one hour of free car parking is where we should land. We know that our high streets are under enormous pressure from internet shopping and, to a degree, out-of-town shopping. Whatever else we take away from this evening's debate, we have to listen to the traders in our town centres about how we can support them, but we also have to facilitate for them the best shopping experience that we can. We are all aware of the concept of shop local — sometimes it is #shoplocal — and that is important for towns such as Lisburn and Bangor. With that slogan in our mind, we also have to keep the focus on how we best facilitate our constituents who want to shop local and go into town to buy a coffee, a bun or some produce. The concept that Mr Butler mentioned of an hour's free parking at the start of the period would be one way of achieving that.

594 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:38 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification