Executive to review Wokingham car parking charges across the borough
Wokingham Borough Council’s decision-making executive will be looking at reviewing the fees at its car parks when it meets on Thursday June 26 – with a view to making them more-user friendly and ensuring that prices are fair.
There has been no increase in Wokingham parking fees for two years - since October 2006, when a selection of car parks had charges increased, and previous to that there had not been a review in more than four years.
A report, that will be considered by the Wokingham executive later this month, looks at two different ways of addressing car parking issues in the Wokingham Borough, including the cost of running the service compared with the income generated, standardising parking fees, residents and visitors’ concerns that parking fees are unfair due to location based charges, and introducing a 30 minute ‘quick stop’ parking levy at town centre car parks.
Option A, reflects the current policy and suggests charging more for ‘premium’ car parks in Wokingham town centre, which are central and close to facilities and therefore higher parking charges. This would encourage long-term parkers to favour cheaper car parks on the outskirts, freeing up central car parks for shoppers and those using community facilities.
Currently the Rose Street car park is considered a ‘premium’ site and so people parking there pay more than in other car parks in Wokingham town centre. Under Option A Denmark Street and Cockpit Path car parks would also be considered ‘premium’ sites.
Option B proposes moving towards a standard charge for all car parks for set time limits, so that motorists are charged the same rate wherever they park in the borough.
This option would also see a new 50p half-hour charge introduced at Denmark Street car park, Wokingham and Headley Road car park, Woodley. Residents have commented that if they want to drop off books at nearby libraries or do a quick errand they should not be forced to pay the full hour charge. If this option is adopted then this issue would be resolved.
If Option B is agreed by the executive then there would be no rise at Rose Street Car Park this year. Also, the charges at Twyford and Wargrave car parks would potentially rise steadily year-on-year until they match that of all the other car parks.
Since the charging gap for car parks in these areas is considerable and in the interest of keeping increases as reasonable as possible for residents, it is expected that parity will not be reached for several years. This situation has arisen from car parks in the two villages generally not having had any increases in fees for approximately eight years and therefore are considerably cheaper than other car parks in the borough.
Both options will pledge to retain the current parking fee at Dinton Pastures Country Park in Hurst and California Country Park in Finchampstead – so no increase will be made.
The report also suggests that the executive should endorse an annual review of parking charges so that fees are regularly looked at to make sure they are in line with the cost of running the service.
Cllr Keith Baker, executive member for Wokingham highways and transport, said: “We don’t want to increase car parking charges, but unfortunately the cost of running the service goes up every year – even though we haven’t made any increases for the last two years. Our aim would be to hold prices for two years, for example until 2010, should this report be agreed. Every effort has been made to keep rises as low as possible, whichever option is adopted by the executive.”
There has been no increase in Wokingham parking fees for two years - since October 2006, when a selection of car parks had charges increased, and previous to that there had not been a review in more than four years.
A report, that will be considered by the Wokingham executive later this month, looks at two different ways of addressing car parking issues in the Wokingham Borough, including the cost of running the service compared with the income generated, standardising parking fees, residents and visitors’ concerns that parking fees are unfair due to location based charges, and introducing a 30 minute ‘quick stop’ parking levy at town centre car parks.
Option A, reflects the current policy and suggests charging more for ‘premium’ car parks in Wokingham town centre, which are central and close to facilities and therefore higher parking charges. This would encourage long-term parkers to favour cheaper car parks on the outskirts, freeing up central car parks for shoppers and those using community facilities.
Currently the Rose Street car park is considered a ‘premium’ site and so people parking there pay more than in other car parks in Wokingham town centre. Under Option A Denmark Street and Cockpit Path car parks would also be considered ‘premium’ sites.
Option B proposes moving towards a standard charge for all car parks for set time limits, so that motorists are charged the same rate wherever they park in the borough.
This option would also see a new 50p half-hour charge introduced at Denmark Street car park, Wokingham and Headley Road car park, Woodley. Residents have commented that if they want to drop off books at nearby libraries or do a quick errand they should not be forced to pay the full hour charge. If this option is adopted then this issue would be resolved.
If Option B is agreed by the executive then there would be no rise at Rose Street Car Park this year. Also, the charges at Twyford and Wargrave car parks would potentially rise steadily year-on-year until they match that of all the other car parks.
Since the charging gap for car parks in these areas is considerable and in the interest of keeping increases as reasonable as possible for residents, it is expected that parity will not be reached for several years. This situation has arisen from car parks in the two villages generally not having had any increases in fees for approximately eight years and therefore are considerably cheaper than other car parks in the borough.
Both options will pledge to retain the current parking fee at Dinton Pastures Country Park in Hurst and California Country Park in Finchampstead – so no increase will be made.
The report also suggests that the executive should endorse an annual review of parking charges so that fees are regularly looked at to make sure they are in line with the cost of running the service.
Cllr Keith Baker, executive member for Wokingham highways and transport, said: “We don’t want to increase car parking charges, but unfortunately the cost of running the service goes up every year – even though we haven’t made any increases for the last two years. Our aim would be to hold prices for two years, for example until 2010, should this report be agreed. Every effort has been made to keep rises as low as possible, whichever option is adopted by the executive.”
Wokingham Borough Council
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