A Huddersfield town centre businessman says he has been left in despair due to the changes in parking which Kirklees Council has implemented.

Paul Morris, Operations Manager for Icestone Gelato, next to Nandos on John William Street, said: "The council, for whatever reason, have dealt us all a heavy blow on John William street by restricting the parking of vehicles.

"This ridiculous act has basically struck our business at the heart where they have now made our delivery capabilities very difficult to logistically manage.

"This is because any driver/delivery person with a vehicle is struggling to find suitable parking within 100 yards of any restaurant on John William street that offers this home delivery service.

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"The parking has also restricted severely the option for walk-in customers to park close to our location to pop in and order for
take-out.

Icestone Gelato, next to Nandos, John William Street, Huddersfield town centre
Icestone Gelato, next to Nandos, John William Street, Huddersfield town centre

"On Thursday I had a delivery come from our distribution centre, three pallets of produce.

"The driver, having no possible parking available made the decision to return to the depot as the Mercedes long-wheel base van could not park anywhere on John William street legally."

At the end of March, Kirklees Council revealed its new measures affecting eight town centre streets would involve the loss of some existing on-street pay and display parking bays.

The changes are meant to make it easier for people to choose how they travel into Huddersfield town centre whether that is by public transport, in a car, on foot or by bike.

They also aim to make it easier for people to keep to social distancing guidelines.

And Mr Morris gave an insight into the pressures many businesses have been under during the last year of the pandemic.

He said: "We have like many restaurants during the lockdown worked so hard to survive.

"The only reason I feel we have survived is due to working with the delivery companies and moving into that sector.

"Financially the business is on a knife-edge and we were desperate for May to come where we can again welcome restaurant customers into the venue to enjoy the dining in experience.

"While hopefully building once again with eat in customers we will still have to heavily rely on home deliveries as I believe we still have a 12-month battle ahead financially to recover.

"The council, for whatever reason, have dealt us all a heavy blow on John William street by restricting the parking of vehicles.

"This ridiculous act has basically struck our business at the heart where they have now made our delivery capabilities very difficult to logistically manage.

"This is because any driver/delivery person with a vehicle is struggling to find suitable parking within 100 yards of any restaurant on John William street that offers this home delivery service.

"The parking has also restricted severely the option for walk-in customers to park close to our location to pop in and order for
take-out.

"The council has not for one minute thought this through. I am very interested to find out which planning officer devised this system where again all businesses now have a very difficult task to get produce delivered as no decent size delivery vehicle has an option to park.

"We have during Covid worked in conjunction with Kirklees Council and government policies in respect of face masks, social distancing, reduced hours of service.

"We have had verbal abuse numerous times for the mere fact that we continued to try and implement the guidance given by the authorities.

"This, I am sad to say, is our reward, not one thought for us and how we will again cope."

Kirklees Council has been approached for comment.

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