Latest news with #RodTaylor
1News
03-08-2025
- Business
- 1News
Tauranga paid parking would ‘kill all the businesses', meeting hears
Tauranga businesses have slated paid parking around the CBD, with one restaurant owner saying it would "kill all the businesses". The comments were made at a Downtown Tauranga meeting where businesses shared their concerns about parking with Tauranga City Council. About 25 CBD businesses attended Thursday night's meeting alongside council staff and councillors Rod Taylor, Glen Crowther and Kevin Schuler. Parking in the city has been a long-standing issue, with free parking trialled in the past. Paid on-street parking was meant to begin on August 4 in the city centre fringe between the eastern end of 4th Ave and Park St, north of the CBD. ADVERTISEMENT Fees would be $1 an hour for the first two hours and $2 for every hour after until 5pm, to a maximum of $10 on weekdays. New two-hour parking limits would also apply to some CBD-fringe streets as far south as 8th Ave. Council parking strategy manager Reece Wilkinson told the meeting paid fringe parking would be delayed a "week or two". This was while the council looked at options for permits that would exempt residents in the fringe streets from parking charges, he said. At a council meeting on July 14, councillors opted not to approve the staff recommendation of resident permits after a split vote and asked staff for more options. Around 25 businesses met to discuss their parking woes with Tauranga City Council staff and councillors (Source: Local Democracy Reporting) Business owners close to 'walking away' ADVERTISEMENT At Thursday's meeting, Satori Sushi and Sake Bar owner Lisa Wilson said after 13 years in downtown Mount Maunganui, she moved the restaurant to Tauranga two years ago and it had been a "struggle". Two weeks after Wilson moved to The Strand, the nearby carpark was closed to be transformed into a green space, she said. At least twice a week the restaurant would have no-shows because people couldn't find a convenient park, Wilson said. She wanted two hours' free parking for city centre shoppers and diners to entice people back to the city. A lot of their older customers didn't want to walk from the parking buildings because they were too far away, Wilson said. "I want them to be able to park right in the street and come into our businesses and not have to worry about moving their cars." Wilson said she understood the council needed parking revenue, but it was going to "kill all the businesses". ADVERTISEMENT They had been in business for 15 years and she was "this close to just closing the doors and walking away," she said. The Collection gallery and gift shop owner Margaret Crowley said she had been in the CBD for 11 years. The city used to be very busy but when paid parking came in the Mount Mainstreet got very busy and the city got quiet, she said. She wanted equity and fairness across the shopping areas and suggested the downtown Mount, Greerton and city all have paid parking but at cheaper rates than the current CBD rates. "So that we all bear the burden rather than the CBD, which is struggling the most, [and] which is [also] suffering a rebuild." Construction of the $306 million civic precinct Te Manawataki o Te Papa was under way and many other developments were being built. Councillor Glen Crowther said there were strong issues and feelings across Tauranga about parking. ADVERTISEMENT People from Greerton, the Mount and Pāpāmoa would not support paid parking in their areas, he said. There were tricky conversations to be had about equity, Crowther said. It was also "quite complex" because the council needed to raise $46m from parking for the civic precinct, he said. Crowley said if more people knew that, the parking charges might be more "palatable". Wanderlust NZ accommodation owner Sarah Meadows said Tauranga businesses shouldn't have to carry the burden of funding the precinct. They could take up to 110 guests but currently had nine, which was the worst it had ever been, she said. Other businesses wanted the parking to be free after 3pm as it had been previously and a better bus service with buses that ran later was also suggested. ADVERTISEMENT Taylor said "I feel your pain", because he had businesses in the city, so his workers had the same issues. The August 4 parking price changes were designed to increase parking turnover so customers could park outside businesses, he said. Wilkinson said the council was happy to look at data from other cities that had two hours' free parking. The buses were run by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, so he encouraged people to speak to them about their ideas. Speaking after the meeting, Liam Jackson – who lives in the CBD and manages a bar – said the delay of paid parking showed the council was listening. "It's really positive. They've [the council] realised that there are concerns from residents and businesses." Earlier this week, he told Local Democracy Reporting he wanted the charges paused until resident permits were sorted. ADVERTISEMENT Downtown Tauranga manager Genevieve Whitson said the council showed a "great willingness" to listen to the challenges businesses faced and agreed there were lessons from the meeting that need to be pursued with urgency. There were merits to bringing back free parking after 3pm, she said. Wilkinson said the councillors would consider a permit solution at the council meeting on August 5. The council would update the community after the meeting once there was clarity on when paid fringe parking would start and on any permits, he said. The off-street pricing changes and new time-restricted areas would still begin on August 4. - LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Times
01-08-2025
- Business
- Times
Morecambe face collapse in days as owner holds betrayed club hostage
Morecambe are a club on the brink. Suspended by the National League. Unable to train because of a lapsed insurance policy. Down to a handful of first-team players, still waiting to be paid salaries for June and July. The academy has ceased to operate. Pre-season friendlies have been cancelled. This season's new strips are lying in unopened boxes inside a warehouse. The club's board of directors resigned en-masse last month, exasperated by owner Jason Whittingham's failure to complete an agreed sale of the club. On Monday, the doors at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium will be locked, staff will down tools. With Morecambe's opening three fixtures of the season postponed, the growing fear is that the club may already have played their final game. If, by August 20, the National League is not satisfied that Morecambe can fulfil their obligations, the Lancashire club are likely to be expelled, and 105 consecutive years of football in the seaside town (but for the war) will come to an end. 'The sand's running out of the timer now,' the former co-chairman, Rod Taylor, says. Haven't we seen this movie before? The same slow-motion collapse that unfolded at Bury, expelled by the EFL in 2019, and Macclesfield Town, relegated from League Two a year later, prevented from starting the National League season, then wound up in the High Court. The same financial disarray; the same sense of helplessness, of anger. The same issue of a dubious owner, whose track record in business sounded alarm bells years ago. The same paralysis from the game's authorities, who, ten days after an independent football regulator received royal assent, remain powerless to prevent history from repeating itself. 'It's heartbreaking,' says Taylor, who was sacked last month, along with the rest of the board, for threatening to put the club into administration, before rejoining to assist a sale to Panjab Warriors, then resigning again when Whittingham failed to complete on the deal. 'I've been a board member for 31 years, a supporter since my grandfather took me to Christie Park [Morecambe's former stadium] when I was five or six years of age. I'm 72 now. And I don't mean it's about me, because it certainly is not. It's about the whole community. Everybody in this town is feeling the same. Absolutely betrayed. There could be 200 people out of work. It's desperate. And there's absolutely no logic to it.' Whittingham, who along with his business partner in Bond Group Investments Limited, Colin Goldring, took control of the club in 2018, could end Morecambe's suffering with the swipe of a pen. Panjab Warriors, the London-based consortium who have been trying to buy the club for more than a year, have issued numerous statements this week reiterating its willingness to conclude a purchase that was given clearance by the EFL in June, shortly after Morecambe's relegation from League Two brought to an end their 18-year stay in the Football League. Two weeks ago, Whittingham suddenly announced a bid from a new buyer, a consortium led by an investor called 'Jonny Cato', before blaming 'continual negative press statements' for cooling their interest and urging Panjab to return to the table. Taylor says he attempted to bring Whittingham and Kuljeep Singh, of Panjab, together on a phone call on Thursday. But, Taylor says, when Singh joined the call, Whittingham abruptly hung up. Panjab, through various associated companies, claim to have paid Bond Group £3.8million, as well as loaning Morecambe a further £1.7million to cover operating costs over the past year. An extraordinary sum for a club with no real assets — the land on which the Mazuma Mobile Stadium stands belongs to the JB Christie Trust, named by Joseph Barnes Christie in 1927, and is being leased to Morecambe on a 125-year agreement — and no majority shareholding in return. Tyson Fury, who is based locally and suggested he would be interested in buying Morecambe a few years ago, owns a boxing gym in one corner of the ground, but it is understood that he has no appetite to strengthen those ties. To complete the deal with Bond Group, Panjab have agreed to pay off a £635,000 charge against the club from Charles Street Finance Ltd, taken out by Whittingham in 2022, at which point Whittingham had agreed to reassign a £1.55million director's loan to the new owners. The Times understands that Whittingham's directors' loan has been accruing interest at a rate of 3 per cent per calendar month, a sum now totalling £688,000. It's also understood that the Charles Street loan, which originally stood at £500,000, was taken out by Whittingham without the knowledge of directors. Whittingham failed to respond to a request for comment for this article. Wright & Lord Solicitors, one of the club's principal partners and main stand sponsor, are exploring the possibility of leading a minority shareholder action in the High Court in a bid to force Whittingham to sell to Panjab. Both Panjab and the local MP, Lizzi Collinge, have accused Whittingham of using Morecambe as 'leverage' in his own personal finances. 'Jason Whittingham has built a house of cards, and it is now falling down around his ears,' Collinge said in the House of Commons last month. How did it come to this? For almost two decades, Morecambe were the EFL's great survivors. Every season, they were among the bookmakers' favourites to be relegated; every year their crowds and budget were among the lowest in the EFL; and every year they took great pride in beating the odds, retaining their league status, even winning promotion to League One in 2021. Whittingham, whose business interests have included luxury jewellery, pawnbroking and 'high-end lending', also bought rugby union's Worcester Warriors, along with Goldring, a former trainee solicitor-turned-entrepreneur, in 2019. In 2022, however, Whittingham and Goldring's business portfolio began to crumble rather publicly. In September that year, the Warriors collapsed into administration with debts of £30million, including a £15.7million emergency government Covid loan. Two months earlier, Goldring had been barred by the Solicitors Regulation Authority from working for any law firm without clearance, after his part in the disappearance of £7million of a Saudi client's money in a botched luxury car deal. Later that same year, Whittingham and Goldring were disqualified as company directors for 12 months for failing to file company accounts. Whittingham, according to Companies House records, has been a director of 25 companies, 18 of which have been either dissolved, put into administration, receiver action or liquidation. In 2022, Morecambe were put up for sale, player wages began to arrive late and bills were stacking up, including to the HMRC. It was no coincidence, then, that the first relegation in Morecambe's history arrived in 2022-23. The club spent most of last summer without a manager, chief executive or more than a handful of contracted senior players. When a transfer embargo for unpaid VAT was finally lifted in mid-July, Derek Adams — who had returned for a third spell as manager and continues to lead the team through this storm with stoicism — signed and registered 15 players in one day. But the rot had set in and a second relegation in three season was confirmed in April. All the while, prospective buyers have come and gone without the conclusion of a sale. Morecambe know all too well that football attracts its fair share of chancers. Diego Lemos, Abdulrahman Al Hashemi and Joseph Cala, Brazilian, Qatari and Italian 'businessmen' respectively, have all passed through in the past decade, causing various levels of distress and dismay. Sarbjot Johal, a 20-year-old 'soft drinks entrepreneur', failed to convince the EFL of the 'source and sufficiency' of his funds in 2023. His business links with Singh prompted the Panjab consortium leader — whose source of funding is rather opaque too — to issue a statement disassociating himself with Johal. It took Panjab almost a year to convince the EFL to give them clearance, but Whittingham is holding the club hostage and the clock is ticking. 'Panjab Warriors are ready and have reached out daily to complete this acquisition,' a statement read. 'Without immediate action, our historic 105-year-old club faces total collapse within days.'
1News
29-07-2025
- Business
- 1News
Tauranga CBD fringe parking fees spark resident backlash
An expansion of paid parking around Tauranga's city centre amounts to a "tax on living in the CBD", a resident says. Liam Jackson will have to pay $10 a day to park outside his Park St home from August 4 after the council decided to expand paid parking to the city centre fringe. "Over $2000 a year just to park outside my house – that seems crazy." On-street parking between the eastern end of Fourth Ave and Park St, north of the CBD, will cost $1 an hour for the first two hours and $2 for every hour after until 5pm, to a maximum of $10 on weekdays. New two-hour parking limits would also apply to some CBD-fringe streets as far south as Eighth Ave. ADVERTISEMENT The streets are often used by people working in the city who park all day. Residents in Tauranga city fringe streets will have to pay to park outside their homes. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting) Jackson, who works in the city, said his flat has one off-street parking spot that his flatmate needed, so he parked on the street. He said the parking changes seemed to work against the council's efforts to revitalise the city centre — which needed people to want to live there to succeed. "It seems like a tax on living in the CBD, which is counterproductive to what they're trying to do with revitalising the CBD." Councillors approved the parking costs and time limits at a Tauranga City Council meeting on July 14, having approved the Tauranga Parking Management Plan in April. After a split vote, councillors opted not to approve the staff recommendation of resident permits for those living in the city fringe. ADVERTISEMENT The permits would have given residents an exemption from fees. Staff proposed to allow residents to apply for up to two permits per dwelling with a two-year expiry. Mayor Mahé Drysdale said two permits for every property was "excessive" and would take out all the parking in the area. Te Papa ward councillor Rod Taylor said trialling resident permits would be worthwhile and staff could report back on how they were working. Te Papa ward councillor Rod Taylor. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting) Jackson said he had lived in many cities in the United Kingdom, and all had an option for resident permits. He said he would be happy to pay for a permit if it was cheaper than on-street parking. ADVERTISEMENT Jackson wanted the council to pause the CBD fringe paid parking until it had sorted out resident permits. Grace Rd and Neighbourhood Residents' Association chairman Phil Green said the idea behind the time-limited parking in The Avenues was to prevent CBD workers parking all day, but they would just find somewhere else to go. The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including the atmospheric river arrives, Epstein's girlfriend pushes for appeal, and Jennifer Lopez's wardrobe malfunction. (Source: Breakfast) He saw people park in the avenues, then use a scooter to get to the city centre so he expected the time limits would just push people further out. Further down around Sixteenth Ave, where Green lived, workers from businesses and the hospital were parking all day and filling up the streets. "The overflow is not just affecting the CBD and its fringes; there are other issues further out as well." The council needed to look at the whole problem of parking and why people weren't using buses or the CBD parking buildings, Green said. ADVERTISEMENT Grace Road and Neighbourhood Residents' Association chairman Phil Green. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting) "It's got to be addressed as an overall view rather than just looking at each thing in isolation. "It seems to be a knee-jerk reaction; you fix one and then there's an ongoing effect and another ongoing effect." Council parking strategy manager Reece Wilkinson said the time-restricted parking would be monitored by a licence plate recognition car. If a vehicle remained in a P120 zone for longer than two hours, it may be subject to enforcement, he said. Fines for parking over the time limit start at $20, increasing incrementally and are capped at $97. Taylor said the council understood changes to parking could be challenging, especially when it meant a change of routine or a new cost. At the council meeting, after the councillors did not approve the resident permits, they asked staff to explore options for a parking zone permit, to ease the impact on affected residents and visitors, he said. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
NZ Herald
28-07-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Tauranga CBD fringe parking fees spark resident backlash
New two-hour parking limits would also apply to some CBD-fringe streets as far south as Eighth Ave. The streets are often used by people working in the city who park all day. Jackson, who works in the city, said his flat has one off-street parking spot that his flatmate needed, so he parked on the street. He said the parking changes seemed to work against the council's efforts to revitalise the city centre - which needed people to want to live there to succeed. 'It seems like a tax on living in the CBD, which is counterproductive to what they're trying to do with revitalising the CBD.' Residents in Tauranga city fringe streets will have to pay to park outside their homes. Photo / File Councillors approved the parking costs and time limits at a Tauranga City Council meeting on July 14, having approved the Tauranga Parking Management Plan in April. After a split vote, councillors opted not to approve the staff recommendation of resident permits for those living in the city fringe. The permits would have given residents an exemption from fees. Staff proposed to allow residents to apply for up to two permits per dwelling with a two-year expiry. Mayor Mahé Drysdale said two permits for every property was 'excessive' and would take out all the parking in the area. Te Papa ward councillor Rod Taylor. Photo / David Hall Te Papa ward councillor Rod Taylor said trialling resident permits would be worthwhile and staff could report back on how they were working. Jackson said he had lived in many cities in the United Kingdom, and all had an option for resident permits. He said he would be happy to pay for a permit if it was cheaper than on-street parking. Jackson wanted the council to pause the CBD fringe paid parking until it had sorted out resident permits. Grace Rd and Neighbourhood Residents' Association chairman Phil Green said the idea behind the time-limited parking in The Avenues was to prevent CBD workers parking all day, but they would just find somewhere else to go. He saw people park in the avenues, then use a scooter to get to the city centre so he expected the time limits would just push people further out. Grace Road and Neighbourhood Residents' Association chairman Phil Green. Photo / George Novak Further down around Sixteenth Ave, where Green lived, workers from businesses and the hospital were parking all day and filling up the streets. 'The overflow is not just affecting the CBD and its fringes; there are other issues further out as well.' The council needed to look at the whole problem of parking and why people weren't using buses or the CBD parking buildings, Green said. 'It's got to be addressed as an overall view rather than just looking at each thing in isolation. 'It seems to be a knee-jerk reaction; you fix one and then there's an ongoing effect and another ongoing effect.' Council parking strategy manager Reece Wilkinson said the time-restricted parking would be monitored by a license plate recognition car. If a vehicle remained in a P120 zone for longer than two hours, it may be subject to enforcement, he said. Fines for parking over the time limit start at $20, increasing incrementally and are capped at $97. Taylor said the council understood changes to parking could be challenging, especially when it meant a change of routine or a new cost. At the council meeting, after the councillors did not approve the resident permits, they asked staff to explore options for a parking zone permit, to ease the impact on affected residents and visitors, he said. - LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
BBC News
17-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Ex-Morecambe chair 'fearful for club's existence'
Morecambe's former co-chairman Rod Taylor says he is fearful for the existence of the club as a prolonged takeover Shrimps had looked set to be bought by the Panjab Warriors group when the EFL approved their takeover in the deal still to go through, however, the board of directors threatened to put the club into administration and later resigned, with owner Jason Whittingham then opting to sell the club to a different party in a "last minute deal" which is still to take are scheduled to begin their 2025-26 National League campaign against Boston on 9 August but an embattled summer off the field, which has included incomplete wage payments from June's payroll to staff and the remainder of the playing and coaching staff, has overshadowed pre-season preparations."It's extremely serious. It's critical. We're right in the last throes of this now. You just don't know where to go next," Taylor told BBC Radio Lancashire."We're doing all we can as ex-officials, we can't play any part beyond that. We're right in the throes of we may not have a club this time next week."I think it could be as serious as that. There has to be movement rapidly. "I'm fearful. As we stand today I am fearful for the existence of the club. I hope and pray that he [Whittingham] sees sense and gets the papers signed."BBC Radio Lancashire have contacted Whittingham for comment. Whittingham previously said terms had been agreed with Panjab Warriors with a deal set to be formally completed shortly club's board of directors had stepped down with the deal still to be concluded, having previously tried to put the club into administration in early July when the deal dragged Panjab Warriors looking set to take over Whittingham last week said an unidentified buyer had worked to pay outstanding wages as well as agreeing contracts pending the approval of a sale by the National identity of the new party is unknown, and in a statement issued by Whittingham on Thursday, he said that the club were looking to complete a deal "as quickly as possible"."We can confirm that a takeover deal is near completion with a consortium of individuals headed by people with genuine football experience, to acquire Bond Group's interest in the club," the statement said., external"We can also confirm that despite speculation on the buyers' identity, nobody from the consortium has yet been named publicly and recent guesses are not accurate."The buyers have funds available to bring payments for the club up to date and we are working to conclude the transaction as quickly as possible." Former board member James Wakefield said he was surprised the club was still in existence and, when asked by BBC Radio Lancashire how long the Shrimps could continue operating, he theorised that they could have just "days" left."I'm amazed it's still alive today. We as a board decided that the only responsible course of action was to put the club into administration and that was on 1 July, 16 days ago," Wakefield said earlier on Thursday, before the latest club statement."It's still dragging on. It's days. It's literally days. There will be payroll again quite soon and the club's not meeting its obligations at the moment, the most important of which is staff wages."But I'm amazed it's still alive quite frankly."
