The controversial plans to introduce car parking charging in the Vale is part of a report which also proposed to close a car park.
It proposes closing Court Road Multi-Storey Car Park in Barry which it says is ‘no longer financially viable’.
In a special Vale Council meeting held on January 28 about proposed car parking changes that has rocked the Vale, practice manager of Holton Dental Care, Mrs Louise Slimings said: “Nine of our dedicated staff rely on this car park for daily parking along with an average of 40 patients who visit us throughout the day.
“Our four dentists and support team travel from various locations including Penarth, Llantwit Major, and Cardiff.
“Given that train services to these are infrequent and unreliable I’m concerned that without an alternative parking solution we risk losing essential staff.”
“It only accounted for a limited time frame, mostly (during) business hours and once during half-term when Holton Primary School was closed.
“This is not reflective of typical usage.”
Reports say Court Road multi-storey costs the council £80k per year to operate and ‘a considerable amount’ of capital funding to ensure safety.
The report proposes that those who currently rely on the car park use nearby ‘on-street’ streets or the car park in Wyndham Street.
Court Road Car Park (Image: Google Maps)
Mrs Slimings added: “Last week I personally counted the cars at both Court Road and Wyndham Street car park at various times of the day.
“At court road there were an average of 95 cars and Wyndham Street 40.
“That is a total of 135 cars, but Wyndham Street only has 74 spaces – clearly not enough to accommodate the displaced vehicles.”
Mrs Slimings believes the changes will create a ‘financial burden of around £1500’ for staff each year.
“In addition, parking all day at Wyndham Street car park would cost our staff £6.50 a day.
“Leading to an initial financial burden of around 1500 per year for each of our employees.”
Holton Dental Centre (Image: Google Maps)
The dental patients will also be impacted, she said. Mrs Slimings said she surveyed her patients on the week of 20 January on how many patients rely on the car park.
“It showed 75% of those who visited the practice, a total of a 190 out of 255 patients relied on Court Road Car Park – that is an average of 38 people per day.
Closing this car park without a viable alternative will severely impact our ability to provide essential health care services.”
A dentist at the practice, Dr Simon Ralphs, who expressed his support of the points she made, added:
“I’m really concerned regarding the impact the proposal will have on our ability to provide NHS dental care to the residents of Barry and rest of the Vale.
The vast majority of our staff and patients use the car park every day.”