Positive start to new parking arrangements in Ludlow

Changes to parking in Ludlow came into effect last Monday (19 November 2018) as part of Shropshire Council’s new parking strategy, and early indications are that the changes have had a positive impact and been well received.

Initial observations indicate a noticeable shift from on-street to off-street parking – in line with the aims of the strategy – plus positive feedback from residents about the reduction in parking congestion and ability to park close to their homes.

Under the changes, new charges are now in place at Shropshire Council’s four town centre car parks and on-street parking areas.

In many cases parking is cheaper than it was before. Parking for two to six hours in Smithfield car park, and for two hours or more in Galdeford A (Upper) now costs less. And parking is also now free on Sundays on Galdeford A (Upper) and Galdeford B (Lower) and Smithfield.

In many cases parking is now cheaper in Ludlow than it was previously.

And, despite some reports to the contrary, a 15 minutes ‘pop and shop’ period is in place.

Payment for parking can now be made by coins, card, by phone or using the MiPermit app.

Weekly tickets are also now available at concessionary rates, and can be purchased at the machines, through the app and pay by phone.

And residents’ off-street parking permits are also available at concessionary rates.

Meanwhile, Shropshire Council has welcomed proposals to offer parking at the Mascall Centre in Ludlow, as this would help to ease the parking and traffic congestion in the town, one of the key aims of the council’s new parking strategy.

Steve Davenport, Cabinet member for highways and transport, said:

“Our early observations are that changes to parking charges and arrangements in Ludlow have been positively received, and are already helping to reduce congestion in the town – which is one of the key aims behind the changes.
“We welcome the proposal for provision of additional off-street provision at the Mascall Centre as further support to easing the parking and traffic congestion situation in the town. However, we do want to point out that our season tickets – which are also available to holiday lets, hotels and guest houses – allow unlimited changes of vehicle through our app.
“We also want to stress that a 15-minute pop and shop period is in place, so people don’t need to pay unless they’re parking for longer than 15 minutes.”

The 15 minutes pop and shop includes a free five minutes parking period, plus a statutory 10 minutes ‘grace period’. There is a notice on all pay and display machines to remind people of this.

New residents’ on-street parking permits were also introduced last week offering new annual digital permits.

For more information about parking in Ludlow, go to shropshire.gov.uk/parking.

A short video has been produced showing how to pay to park using Shropshire Council’s new pay and display parking machines – see below, or click here.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_OPzzmey6g