Free parking facing axe in new shake-up Eight towns and villages may get charges
CAR parking charges look set to be introduced in Bollington, Poynton and Prestbury and other Cheshire East towns which are free at the moment.
Sunday and Bank Holiday charging is also on the cards, with Cheshire East planning to introduce a flat £1 rate for stays longer than an hour across all council-owned paying car parks in the borough.
Altogether eight towns and villages which do not pay to park at the moment, including Handforth, Holmes Chapel, Middlewich,
Sandbach, Alsager, could see charges introduced from next spring.
Cheshire East is expected to undertake a 30 day public consultation on the proposals at the end of this month.
A report due to go before a meeting of the highways and transport committee states: “For historic reasons, the borough has operated with inconsistent car parking tariffs and charging mechanisms, with some places still providing free car parking.
“These arrangements are unfair and represent a significant opportunity in relation to the revenue that could be created to support the strategic transport and highway related objectives of the council.”
The new pay and display policy, if approved, will see zonal tariffs introduced.
Central car parks, that is those within 300m or a five minute walk from the town centre, will be in zone one - the highest charging band - and charges will start at 40p for up to 30 minutes or 80p for the first hour.
‘Edge of centre or out of centre’ car parks will be within the cheaper zone two and charges will be 30p for the first 30 minutes and 60p for up to an hour.
The new parking policy will see drivers in all towns paying the same.
The charges only apply to council owned car parks.
The highest fee - for those parking between six to 10 hours - will be £5.60 in zone one and £3.40 in zone two.
Parking charges have long been a thorny issue, especially for Macclesfield as the town has consistently made the biggest contribution to council revenue and is seen as subsidising other towns.
But this could change with these proposals that say standardised parking zones should be applied to the Cheshire East’s car parks.