Details of controversial council car park review unveiled for Powys

These are amongst a number of recommendations that have emerged from a car parking review which will be debated by members of Powys County Council’s Economy, Residents and Communities scrutiny committee when they meet on Monday, September 9.

Car parking fees were increased as part of the 2023/2024 budget by the Liberal Democrat/Labour/Green administration which came into force in April last year.

The report explains that the price increases saw the total council income from car parks rise to £1.879 million last year, which is 16.3 per cent more than they made 2022/2023.

This is despite a drop in car park ticket sales from 815,153 to 741,404.

The report said: "We cannot say with any surety if the reduction was due to price changes or other external factors such as weather conditions."

Essentially the report shows two proposals.

The first comes from the cross party working group which included representatives from town councils and businesses and the second by staff from the Highways, Transport and Recycling department.

The working group recommends reintroducing the one hour parking ticket in long stay car parks -which would cost the council £138,300.

Introducing a new parking permit for a single car park only, would cost £21,000.

This makes a total loss of £158,300.

To get around this financial loss it was proposed to increase car park fees for stays of two to four hours and all day.

The prices would rise respectively from £3.25 to £3.80 and from £4 to £5.

It is estimated that this rise would make the council £143,200.

Further recommendation

A further recommendation of curtailing free car parking for events to the cabinet members discretion is estimated to make £21,000.

This would make £164,200 for the council, more than covering its losses and providing and extra £5,900.

Alternative proposals have also been put forward by Highways, Transport and Recycling officers.

They agree with reintroducing one hour car parking tickets, but only at long stay car parks at Builth Wells, Crickhowell, Llanidloes, Machynlleth, Presteigne and Ystradgynlais, as these towns don’t have short stay car parks.

This cost would be £54,000.

They also agree with the increased costs for up to four hour and all day parking tickets.

Officers want to "review, assess, and implement options" to introduce charging on car parks where there is currently: "no charge to park."

They believe this would bring in an extra £313,000 a year and the report explains there would be a one off capital budget cost of £48,000 for an extra 15 ticket machines.

They also want to amend parking permits to a "single" car park but keep the charge as it is but with a higher cost for permits that cover multiple car parks.

The report explains that if the officer recommendations are accepted, it will create in total an extra £402,200 for the department.

This would help deal with an overspend of £127,000 that the department is predicting for this year.

Director of corporate services and s151 officer Jane Thomas has looked at both sets of recommendations.

Ms Thomas said: "The recommendations of the working group do not maintain a balanced budget, nor do they address the shortfall in income against the set budget, if approved these will create an additional financial burden for the council.

"The proposals set out in the officer recommendations collectively deliver a position that generates additional income for the council which addresses the current shortfall in income against the approved budget, maintaining a balanced budget and making a contribution to reduce the overall budget gap in our financial plans."

Comments from the scrutiny committee will be added to the report before it goes to Cabinet for a decision.