Plans to increase parking charges at council-run car parks

Shropshire Council’s Cabinet will be asked to approve small increases in parking charges at their meeting next week following a public consultation into the planned changes.

Under the plans the majority of charges in Shropshire Council-run car parks are set to rise by between 10p and 20p per hour, with many car parks remaining free of charge.

The current charges were introduced between November 2018 and February 2019 and there has been no increase since. However, in that time inflation has risen significantly, as have operational costs, but the council is receiving the same level of parking income – and can no longer continue to subsidise the maintenance of car parks from other budgets.

Many other councils have raised charges annually in the same time period.

The planned fees were approved by Cabinet and full Council in February 2022 as part of the proposed fees and charges to be applied by Shropshire Council in 2022/23. The required statutory consultation has now been completed with eight objections received.

There are seven bands of car parks and on-street parking areas managed by Shropshire Council, with bands 1 to 6 currently being chargeable, and band 7 being free.

The existing and proposed pricing levels for each band are shown below. Band 1 is on-street parking in Shrewsbury.

Hourly charges (current/proposed) by car park band

Band 1 – current £2.40; proposed £2.80
Band 2 – current £1.80; proposed £2.00
Band 3 – current £1.00; proposed £1.20
Band 4 – current – 70p; proposed 80p
Band 5 – current – 50p; proposed 60p
Band 6 – current – 30p; proposed 40p

Dean Carroll, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for highways, said: “An increase in the rate of inflation and the cost of managing and maintaining our car parks and on-street parking areas means that we are proposing small increases to some of our parking charges.

“This will be the first increase in parking charges since the existing fees were introduced more than three years ago.

“The majority of increases are small – only 10p an hour for most car parks – with a rise of just 20p per hour in a small number of others.

“However, even with these changes many car parks will continue to be free, and many will cost just 40p an hour. And even with a small increase our prices will continue to compare favourably with many other parts of the country.

“It’s also worth highlighting that the 15 minutes’ pop and shop period will continue to apply.”