CHARGES for longer on-street parking stays in Warwickshire will go up in March.
Warwickshire County Council’s (WCC) cabinet has approved a revised pricing structure for on-street parking across the county.
The price for two hours’ parking in on-street pay-and-display bays in Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth, Rugby and Stratford will rise by 60p, taking the cost up to £2.80. Stays of 30 minutes to one-and-a-half hours will also increase by 15p to 45p respectively.
The cost of shorter stays of 15 minutes will be 25p – a reduction of 3p – a move which the council hopes will ‘facilitate very short stays in town centres for the purposes of dropping off and collecting goods’.
A council spokesperson said charges for longer stays were increased to ‘minimise on-street congestion caused by vehicles searching for spaces, and support environmental benefits such as increasing air quality in heavily built-up town centre locations’.
A WCC spokesperson said: “The council has chosen to increase charges for longer stays to either bring them in line with, or to be higher than, off-street car parking costs.
“This move is in line with Department for Transport guidance that encourages on-street parking for short-term parking, and off-street car parking – which are often located on the peripheries of town centres – for longer visits.”
The council’s cabinet has also approved plans to conduct an annual review of on-street pay-and-display charges that will take District and Borough off-street parking pricing structures into consideration.
Plans also include the review and standardisation of hours of restriction across all bays, to address ‘inconsistency and subsequent confusion’ caused by differing approaches across the county.
There will be no change to parking charges in other areas of Warwickshire at this time.
WCC’s transport spokesman Coun Jan Matecki said: “This is the first change to our on-street charging structure since 2018 and is below the rate of inflation for this period. It is being implemented to allow us to realise a range of important benefits for our town centres in south and central Warwickshire.
“In addition to improving air quality, the changes will support the local economy by encouraging a regular turnover of visitors to town centres with less vehicle congestion, making our streets safer and cleaner while allowing for shorter – and now slightly cheaper – visits for those just wanting to quickly drop off or collect goods.
“Of course, our ultimate goal is to encourage and enable active travel such as walking or cycling, or more environmentally sound alternatives to cars such as public transport, when visiting our town centres as we pursue our ambitions for a net zero Warwickshire.”
Visit http://tinyurl.com/4wxkd63k to see a copy of the cabinet report.
Visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/onstreetparking for more information about on-street parking fees in Warwickshire.
