Somerset Council members will be discussing a range of potential changes to parking charges in Somerset in a bid to bring consistency across the county.
There are currently different rates and charging principles applied across the county’s 200 or so council-run car parks, and the system has not been reviewed since Somerset Council came into being in 2023.
The aim of the proposals, which will first be discussed at Corporate and Resources Scrutiny on 24 February, is to bring consistency and ensure the service continues to be completely self-funded to cover staffing, serving and administrating penalty notices, and managing and maintaining car parks to a high level.
If approved in principle by the Council’s Executive on 26 February, the proposals will then go out to public consultation.
The proposals include:
- Introducing a new county-wide overnight charge in car parks
- Standardising charges for Sunday parking at all car parks – currently this only applies at some car parks
- Introducing charges at car parks which are currently free
- Introducing on-street charging to limited waiting bays in town centres – currently this only applies in some areas
Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Transport and Waste, Councillor Richard Wilkins said:
We have many car parks in Somerset and there are significant costs and challenges involved in running and maintaining them.
It’s really important we bring fairness and uniformity in charges across the county and in turn the extra income will help ensure the parking service is fully self-financed and can continue to be run, staffed and maintained properly.
