Record car parking charges increase proposed by the Conservatives

January will see Car Park charges go up by another inflation-busting increase.

Most increases this year fall in the range of 12% to 15%; this is on top of increases of around 10% last year.

Cllr Henry Vann said, “It’s indefensible that shoppers are now going to have to pay so much more to pop into town than before the Conservatives took over. For example, it will cost around 25% more to park in the town centre multi-storey car parks for a couple of hours. At a time when people are struggling with household bills, it is not acceptable to see shoppers as an easy target to get more cash to try and balance the books. Not only will this hurt residents, it is also an attack on our amazing local town centre businesses who do so much for our town.”

“And to add insult to injury, overnight charges are back. After a failed attempt to bring them in last year, they are going to try again. This is going to harm our venues, restaurants, leisure and evening economy.”

“I can’t help thinking it would have been more beneficial for the Town Centre if the Conservatives had kept these parking charges down rather than wasting £450,000 a year on the largely empty Debenhams building.” 

Example weekday 2 hour charges: 

                     2023        2026                Increase

Allhallows           £1.90       £2.40           26.3%

On-street          £2.00        £2.50           25.0%

River Street        £2.20       £2.70           22.7%

New Evening Charges:

River Street MSCP, Riverside Surface & St Marys Gardens: £4.00

Allhallows & Lurke Street:                 £2.50