Hike in parking charges in city
■ Increases to help fight congestion and improve air pollution levels ■ 10% discount for residents... if they use council parking app
A full day’s parking at one of the city’s key car parks will nearly double in price in a massive shake-up of parking charges. Twelve hours parking at Charlotte Street car park will rise from £8.50 to £15 and fees will rise for short stays as well - even after a 10 per cent residents’ discount is applied. Sunday on-street parking remains free of charge and park and ride prices will not increase. The new fees come into effect from Monday. “The changes are being made as part of a package of measures by Bath and North East Somerset Council to tackle and improve air pollution and encourage more people to use Bath’s park and rides or other public transport,” the council said. The council added that it had listened to the concerns of shop owners - such as Article gift shop owner Lucy Simon - who fear that an increase in parking charges would reduce numbers of shoppers and harm business. “New charges will see the cost of long-stay parking increase, however, in order to support local shops and traders, any resident parking for three hours or less in one of the council’s car parks will see the cost of parking either reduced or staying broadly the same.” Both residents and visitors parking for four hours, however, will incur an increase. The changes are rooted in the parking strategy that was adopted by the council on February 7. Their aim is to “influence behaviours and travel choices” in order to help Bath improve air quality. B&NES Council has been told it must cut its nitrogen dioxide emissions by 2021 and has proposed a new clean air zone. Pricing changes are “one of the main tools that local authorities have to change wider travel behaviour”, the council said in a briefing to its plans which were put out to public consultation in May. But not everyone was in agreement. Deputy council leader Councillor Patrick Anketell-jones wrote in informal feedback to the consultation: “In the unwritten text of the parking strategy there is an invitation to residents and visitors alike to drive into the city centre as and when they wish. “With parking fixed to a two-hour turnaround, drivers are encouraged to think there is a strong likelihood of a space being available for their vehicles and they will drive around the city centre until they have found one. “If this strategy has been written to buttress the clean air zone, it is a very weak support.” The former cabinet member for transport, Conservative Councillor Anthony Clarke, who is Mr Anketell-jones’s fellow Lansdown ward member, wrote: “I am happy to support this review.” Bath has four short-stay car parks - Bath Sports and Leisure Centre, Broad Street, Cattle Market and Kingsmead Square - which will have a new flat hourly rate of £1.60. The current costs of parking in these places are £1.60 for an hour, £3.10 for two hours, £4.30 for three hours and £5.40 for four hours. Under the proposed changes, this will rise to £3.20 for two hours, £4.80 for three hours and £6.40 for four hours. Residents, however, will be able to claim 10 per cent off these rates. Parking for 12 hours at Avon Street and Manvers Street car parks currently costs £12.50. The same duration at Charlotte Street costs £8.50. These charges will all rise to £15. Again, the 10 per cent saving for residents will be available and the discounted evening rate from 6pm at Charlotte Street car park will remain in place, as will the hour’s free parking at Royal Victoria Park. On-street parking falls into different tariff bands. The cost of parking in tariff one, including Green Park, Lansdown Road, Pulteney Road and the Royal Crescent, will go up 10p for the first hour to £2.50. But instead of rising to £3.10 for two hours and £3.70 for three hours, as it does currently, every extra hour will cost £1. In tariff two ‘premium zone,’ which includes Corn Street, Gay Street, James Street West, Queen Square and Walcot Street, it will cost £3.40 for the first hour and £1.10 for every extra hour. In tariff three ‘ultra premium zone’ - Laura Place, Milsom Street and Royal Avenue - parking will cost £3.80 for the first hour and then £1.60 for each hour thererafter. The council’s transport chief Councillor Mark Shelford (Conservative, Lyncombe) previously called the changes “the start of a progressive journey”. Mr Shelford who is cabinet member for transport and the environment said: “We carried out an extensive consultation last year which showed broad support for the aims of our Parking Strategy, in particular using long-stay parking charges to encourage the use of park and rides or public transport. “We want to see more people using the park and ride or public transport rather than driving into Bath centre to park and we are encouraging everyone to walk or cycle for shorter journeys whenever they can. “However, as part of our commitment to put residents first and to support local business we have introduced the Residents’ Parking Saver which gives a 10 per cent discount. This can be activated when residents sign up for our Mipermit cashless system.” To sign up to this go to www. wanttopark.com/bathnes.
❝ The changes are being made... to improve air pollution and encourage use of park and ride and public transport