New charges at Shropshire Council's car parks - what you'll pay
This is how much you will pay for parking if Shropshire Council proposals get the green-light next week.
Months of work have gone into preparing the council’s parking strategy, which sets out how the authority runs and charges for its car parks and on-street parking.
The current charges were last reviewed in 2012 and the council has argued the latest changes are needed so that the whole county is governed by one policy.
A 12-week public consultation on the proposed new parking strategy ran between July and October last year.
Under the proposals, which are likely to be ratified at the meeting of Shropshire Council’s Cabinet on Wednesday, on-street parking charges in Shrewsbury will rise from £1.60 an hour to £2.50 – an increase of more than 56 per cent.
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Parking in a number of the county town’s car parks will be at a rate of £1.80 per hour, and this will also be the case on the streets classed as ‘red zone’ in Ludlow.
To park in Frankwell Main, Riverside and Quay will cost 70p an hour.
The hours of charging in all these locations will be extended from the current 6pm until 8pm.
Under the changes motorists will also be able to park at Raven Meadows multi-storey car park in Shrewsbury for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There will be a three-hour tariff cap between 8pm and 8am.
Weekly parking tickets will be introduced on car parks charging between 30p an hour and 70p an hour.
Off-street residents’ car park permits will also be introduced on these car parks, as will season tickets for cars and small vans.
On Sundays and bank holidays free parking is to be introduced on car parks charging between 30p and 70p an hour and there will be a 50 per cent concession on car parks charging between £1 and £1.80 except for raven Meadows where there will be a flat rate of £1.50 for up to 10 hours.
A review of traffic wardens and enforcement measures will be carried out and priorities awarded on an individual town by town basis.
The council also plans to carry out a feasibility exercise with the possibility of introducing a traditional ‘pay on foot’ system in the Frankwell Main and Riverside car parks.
One of the more controversial changes means the popular ‘pop and shop’ period will be reduced. Drivers are currently able to park for 15 minutes, plus the statutory 10 minute period, without the need of a parking ticket. If the proposal gets the go-ahead on Wednesday this will change to just five minutes plus the statutory period.
The council’s transport commissioner, Kevin Aitken, said the new scheme would ‘completely change’ people’s parking habits.
“We want one parking policy for the whole county,” he added.
‘Significant shift’ in strategy welcomed
“A significant shift” to plans for new car parking charges in Shropshire has been welcomed by prominent town figures.
A number of changes have been made to Shropshire Council’s car parking strategy after a 12-week consultation.
They include free parking for coaches as well as free Sunday car parking in Abbey Foregate, Frankwell and St Julian Friars in Shrewsbury.
Shrewsbury’s Business Improvement District responded to the draft Shropshire Council Car Parking Strategy consultation after discussions with its 500 members. The BID said the intervention has resulted in more than 20 new and revised recommendations being included in the strategy.
They include an eight-hour cap on charges at Abbey Foregate, Frankwell and Raven Meadows car parks, no evening charges in Abbey Foregate and St Julians Friar’s car parks, the reduction in charges at St Julian’s Friar’s car park from £1.80 to £1 per hour and the extended opening at Raven Meadows to 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a £5.40 overnight fee (equivalent to a charge of three hours).
Kevin Lockwood, manager of Shrewsbury’s Pride Hill, Darwin, and Riverside, shopping centres, who is also a Shrewsbury BID board member and chair of the organisation’s access and car parking group, said: “While we think the changes could have gone further, they do represent a significant shift.
“It gives us great confidence that Shropshire Council has taken action by revising the draft proposals, showing that our collective voice on local issues can effect real change.”
