Parking charges set to rise again as council proposes 12% hike

The council wants to hike all-day charges in Salisbury to £8.90, just two years after it put them up from £7.40 to £8.

Parking charges vary slightly across the city's car parks, but on average one-hour's off-street parking will jump by 20p, two-hours' will rise by 30p and three hours' will go up by 50p.

Half-an-hour's on-street parking will rise from 50p to 60p, while a whole hour will go up from £1.50 to £1.70.

Parking charges will also rise elsewhere in the county if the proposals go ahead.

The changes are to be discussed at a cabinet meeting in Trowbridge on Tuesday.

In 2016/17, the council made £3.7m net profit from parking.

Any profit from parking charges is used to support local bus services.

A report for decision-makers in the cabinet says: "This is one of the main reasons why the council has been in a position to retain the vast majority of these bus services, in contrast to other local authorities which have seen significant cuts to services."

The council says its parking service is facing "significant cost pressures" and it has to find money for business rates, essential equipment upgrades and maintenance.

To fund these "essential improvements", the council says it needs a ‘one off’ sum of £125,000 and ongoing costs of £133,000 a year.

Officers have come up with seven options to raise the money:

Option 1: Apply an inflation increase to all parking charges

Option 2: Introduce Sunday and Bank/Public Holiday charging at all car

parks

Option 3: Charge in all Wiltshire Council car parks

Option 4: Discontinue free event parking in November and December

Option 5: Base season ticket charges on the standard rate charges

Option 6: Harmonise residents’ parking permit charges

Option 7: Reduce the parking grace period to ten minutes

They have ruled out charging for parking in the evenings and charging disabled motorists.

Cabinet will decide whether to begin a public consultation on the proposals when it meets on Tuesday/.