Changes to car parking charges agreed

Shropshire Council’s Cabinet has agreed a number of changes to parking charges in the council’s car parks and on-street parking areas.

The changes were considered and approved by Cabinet at its meeting on 17 April 2024 but a traffic regulation order consultation had to be carried out before the changes could be implemented.

This consultation was carried out in the summer, with the findings presented to Cabinet on 4 December [2024]. Cabinet agreed to implement the changes, with one exception – that Abbey Foregate and St Julian’s Friars car parks in Shrewsbury should remain free after 6pm to help the night-time economy.

Click here to see the new parking charges approved on 4 December 2024.

In Shrewsbury the increase in parking charges will help the council meet its aim of improving and reducing traffic within the river loop.

Outside of Shrewsbury, all car parks will see an increase of 20p an hour, with 15 car parks remaining free of charge.

The charges are likely to come into effect in early 2025, with the date to be confirmed.

Dan Morris, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for parking, said:

“We know that not everyone will welcome an increase in parking charges but there are good reasons for the changes.

“The new charges will ensure that sufficient parking spaces are available to visitors who most need to use them at all times of the week, by discouraging drivers of vehicles from unnecessarily entering congested parts of towns throughout the county – for example, the Shrewsbury river loop.

“The changes are also intended to encourage use of more distant, quieter car parks, or preferably alternative modes of transport such as buses, park and ride or active modes such as cycling and walking.

“And it’s important to say that we have listened to people’s views. Some of our original proposals were changed earlier this year following feedback from the scrutiny committee, and from Shrewsbury BID, and we have now carefully considered the feedback from the recent consultation and have agreed to make one further change.”

Shrewsbury park and ride is currently £1 per person for a return journey from any of the town’s three park and ride sites.

Further information

By law, any surplus money Shropshire Council receives from car parking over and above the cost of providing, maintaining and administering it must be used for the benefit of road users.

Any surplus generated from these changes would therefore be put towards funding public transport services, road improvement projects and environmental improvements.

In Shrewsbury the charges proposed clearly comply with the principle of higher charges in the centre, reducing as the distance from the centre is increased. They are:

• £3.60 per hour: On-street bays.
• £2.80 per hour: Bridge Street, St Austins Street.
• £2.40 per hour: Raven Meadows.
• £1.60 per hour: St Julian’s Friars.
• £1.20 per hour: Frankwell.
• 80p per hour: Abbey Foregate (the furthest away).

A report was originally presented to – and agreed by – Cabinet on 17 January 2024 but the decision was then ‘called in’ for consideration by the council’s economy and environment scrutiny committee on 19 February 2024 before a new report was presented to Cabinet on 4 April 2024.