Parking rise‘stimulates economic growth’

The decision to raise council car parking charges by ten percent was the right one - so says the convener of Perth and Kinross enterprise and infrastructure committee.

Cllr Angus Forbes noted public complaint reported in the PA over plans for PKC car parks and off-street parking to become dearer later this year, but emphasised that this rise comes after a period of static charges.

“Ramping up parking charges is something that no local authority would do lightly, however, this very small rise is the first in six years and in the last three years, PKC has spent over £2 million improving car parks to make them safe and inviting places for people to park.

“Having safe and accessible car parks stimulates economic growth in city centres and the Conservative led administration set this out as a priority right at the start. Perth is still one of the cheapest places in Scotland to park.”

For anyone pointing to alterations to parking costs made in 2016, Cllr Forbes explained:“There has been no increase in parking charges through the council’s annual budget-setting process for six years. The price change in 2016 was the result of a review of parking zones in the city centre, which introduced a new flat rate parking charge of £1 an hour for car parks and on-street parking bays.

“The introduction of this did mean that in some areas the parking charge increased slightly to match this new flat rate, but this was balanced out by a decrease in charges in other locations, so there was no overall increase in income to the parking services account.”

Cllr Forbes also stood by the level of the increase due to take root from April 30, arguing the virtue of balancing budgetary gains with any measure that might stifle the incentive to shop in the city centre.