On-street Sunday parking charges set to be introduced in Shrewsbury and Ludlow

On-street Sunday parking charges are set to be introduced in Shrewsbury and Ludlow from early 2013, if Shropshire Council’s Cabinet agrees to the proposals at its meeting on Wednesday 19 December 2012.

At its meeting on 17 October 2012, Cabinet agreed in principle to introduce on-street parking charges in the two towns on Sundays, in areas where Monday to Saturday charging is already applicable.

As the introduction of these proposals requires a change in the traffic regulation order, a 21-day statutory consultation had to be carried out.  The consultation period finished on 7 December.

Further consultation has also been carried out on changes to restrictions placed on loading bays and single yellow lines in parts of Shrewsbury, to ensure that there is consistency with the council’s parking enforcement policy.

The report to Cabinet details the response to the consultation, and asks Cabinet to agree the resulting recommendations, which are:

• Introduce on-street parking charges in Shrewsbury and Ludlow on Sundays, at the same rate as Monday to Saturday.
• Alter the times of operation of the pay and display bays from 8.30am to 6pm, to 8am to 6pm, in Shrewsbury.
• Alter the days of the loading bays in Shrewsbury from Monday to Saturday, to Monday to Sunday.
• Alter the times and days of operation of the single yellow lines in Shrewsbury from Monday to Saturday 8am to 6.30pm, to Monday to Sunday 8am to 6pm.
• Consider the introduction of parking restrictions in areas of Shrewsbury that may be affected by possible deplacement of cars from the town centre.

Simon Jones, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member responsible for parking, said:

“The aim of the council’s car parking policy is to help ensure that longer-stay vehicles are concentrated in the car parks, rather than the on-street spaces, to help remove congestion, and allow a greater number of people easier access to the town centre services and facilities.

“This isn’t currently being achieved in Shrewsbury and Ludlow on Sundays, and this is something which the introduction of Sunday on-street parking charges aims to address, as well as providing additional funds that can be put towards our public transport services.”

The introduction of Sunday on-street parking charges in Shrewsbury and Ludlow will cost around £6,000, but will increase the level of income by around £30,000 each year.

Income from on-street parking is put towards providing the Park and Ride bus services in the two towns, with any surplus used to subsidise local bus services.

If approved by Cabinet, the new charges would come into effect on Sunday 20 January 2013.

For more details of the charges, click here to see the Cabinet report and go to pages 11 and 12,

Lower Sunday charges – half the Monday to Saturday charge in Shropshire Council-owned car parks – have recently been introduced in Shropshire Council-owned car parks in Shrewsbury, Ludlow, Oswestry and Bridgnorth, to encourage greater use of these car parks on a Sunday.