There are fears a Gloucestershire council’s “anti-car” move to hike parking charges by 300 per cent will hurt town centre trade.
Green Party leaders at Forest of Dean District Council are considering increasing fees and charges as part of their budget for the next financial year.
The cost to park for the minimum stay of up to two hours will rise from 50p to £2, if approved by district councillors next month.
Parking for up to three or four hours is also expected to rise from £1 and £1.50 to £3 and £4 respectively while anyone staying for longer will be expected to pay £5 – up from £2 currently.
Under the current proposals, the cost of permits would also rise with a weekly ticket going from £6 to £10 and monthly passes going from £20 to £30.
Three monthly, six monthly and annual permits are also expected to increase from £55, £95 and £180 to £65, £100 and £190 respectively.
The car parks currently run at an annual loss of £15,000 a year but council leaders say they hope the rise will generate £200,000 in income which they could use to enhance the car parks.
They also believe it may make people think twice about using the motorvehicle to travel into own.
But the move has been met with disbelief among opposition councillors with former council leader Tim Gwilliam (Progressive Independents, Berry Hill) said his previous administration never increased the charges because “there was no way they could justify it”.
However, he congratulated council leader Mark Topping (G, Lydney West and Aylburton) for “being honest about a move which is anti-car”.
He told the strategic overview and scrutiny committee earlier this month that his initial thoughts were that Cllr Topping was “being clever” and what he would say during the budget debate next month is raise lowest charge to £1.
“But listening to you, that’s not true,” he said. “You are actually considering putting the first hour of car parking up to £2.
He said that Cllr Topping, who played the role of Van Helsing in the film the Wrath of Dracula, “must have been bitten by a vampire” because the car parking charge hike is “simply madness”.
“I can only assume Mark that one of those vampires bit you and has given you something that has affected your head, my friend.” He asked Cllr Topping to please contact the town councils to inform them of what the district council intends to do.
Cllr Gillian Kilmurray (LD, Dymock) raised concerns over the impact the car parking charges will have on shops and other small businesses in Newent.
She invited Cllr Topping to see the state of the market town’s car park.
“The signs are broken, the machines are broken, there are bottles and litter everywhere,” she said.
“Newent high street itself has got a lot of empty shops and businesses that have already gone. Newent actually hasn’t got a lot going for it businesswise.”
Cllr Dave Wheeler (G, Newland and Sling) said the parking charges in nearby Ross-on-Wye and Hereford are considerably higher than what is being proposed in the Forest of Dean.
He also asked if Sunday charging could be removed from the car park at Redbrook which is “fundamentally a tax on tourists spending their money in the Wye Valley”.
“Redbrook doesn’t get a lot of the £200,000 spent on tidying up and the grass cutting,” he said. “In fact we don’t seem to get much at all in that car park.
“But you do charge on a Sunday and I think you should be removing that.”
Councillor Topping said the increase in charges is needed as the authority is losing £15,000 a year from car parks.
He explained charges have not gone up in previous years and his administration “is grasping the bull by both horns and the nettle and everything else”.
“It needs to be done, the crisis is now in terms of funding and in terms of our town centres. This is based on need and not on what we think we can get away with politically.”
He said the proposed increase in charges is expected to generate an income of around £200,000 which Cllr Topping hopes could be invested in the car parks.
“300 per cent. It’s a startling figure and it is a lot to increase it by but it’s what happens when you take a very small number and increase from 50p to £2.”
He acknowledges that there is a fear it could deter people from going to those car parks and have a knock on effect on businesses.
But he said he hoped it would encourage residents to take out an £190 annual permit as the day rate works out at around 50p to park at any of the sites in the Forest for a whole day.
“I see this as an opportunity,” he said. “When you come to a car park, it says quite a lot about that town.
“If you get there and you find that the machine is broken, it’s dirty, the signs are broken, it is overgrown with weeds, there’s litter everywhere, the toilets are closed and vandalised, that is the last thing you want, that’s the last thing we want as an administration.”
He said the extra income would allow the council to enhance its car parks and provide bike racks, notice boards and electric bike charging points and encourage more tourists to visit Forest towns.
“When you come to that town, you find you have a clean, tidy functioning car park with clean and tidy toilets. You will want to come there rather than a scruffy mess.
“It brings us in line with our neighbours and it’s not an unreasonable charge.”
He also said if car parking charges go up people will ask themselves if they need to use the car to go to that town.
“There is a very slight nudge in the direction of, is this use of the car absolutely necessary?”
Councillors will debate the final budget proposals at the meeting on February 22.
The Forest of Dean District Council is currently led by a minority Green Party administration which came into being with support from Labour, Liberal Democrat and Independent councillors.
