Cost of parking to rise
Charges for Winchester City Council's on-street parking permits, on-street pay and display, and off-street car parks are set to rise.The Council's parking review group is recommending that annual residents and visitors permits should cost £25 for the first permit for each household, and £50 for each additional permit.
In addition they are suggesting guest house permits be increased from £15 to £25, amenity permits, for organisations such as charities, from £10 to £15, and business permits from £30 to £50, and from £200 to £300, depending on the type of permit.
The group agreed that the charge for 30 minutes stay for on-street pay and display and in the car parks should remain at 30p, and that there should be no increase in charges for the park and ride car parks.
The parking review group has also proposed that parking charges for on-street pay and display and for the Council's car parks should be increased by typically 10p per hour. The charges were last increased in June 2002 and short stay car parks would increase from 60p to 70p per hour while long stay car parks would increase from 40p to 50p per hour.
Cllr Richard Knasel, Portfolio Holder for Economy and Transport, commented that the City Council did need to review its parking charges on a regular basis to reflect the costs of operating both the parking permits scheme and the car parks.
"The on-street parking permits are currently being subsidised by other parking income. We will still be subsidising the first permit and the proposed increases will ensure that the scheme is self-funded in future," he added.
In a report to the parking review group Head of Traffic and Transport Alan Jowsey said on-street parking permits were introduced in 1970 at a cost of £10, and had remained unchanged until 2002, when they were increased to £15.
He said the costs of on-street permits should reflect the scheme's cost to the Council. The approximate cost of issuing a permit, receiving and processing the payment, and dealing with enquiries was £15 per permit, while the approximate cost of enforcing the scheme was £25 per permit.
The proposals will be considered by the Environment and Access Performance Improvement Committee at its meeting on 1 December and then by Cabinet on 15 December.
The public will be advised on any changes before they are brought in, through advertisements at affected car parks and through the local press.