Council Cabinet takes decision to protect and improve council car parks and support local people and businesses
Council Cabinet takes decision to protect and improve council car parks and support local people and businesses
At their meeting on 13th November 2024, Cabinet agreed to several changes to council owned car parks designed to protect, improve and support the local area.
The free car parking spaces in St Mary’s Car Park will be extended from 20 minutes to 30 minutes, to support those quickly popping into town. Two additional free spaces will also be created, making a total of 9 free spaces available to those visiting Melton Mowbray Town Centre.
The Cabinet decided to protect the existing free off-street carparks with no changes proposed including, for example, those at Melton County Park and in Asfordby. The Council has also offered 20 free long stay parking permits to the BID with a view to supporting local businesses and is keen to explore the details and eligibility of the scheme with them over the coming weeks.
By the time any change takes effect, parking charges will have been frozen for five years, and the proposed wider changes represent a below inflation rise since they were last increased. From 1 April 2025, the price of a one-hour ticket in a short stay council owned car park will increase from £1.20 to £1.40 with a weekly ticket increasing from £16.00 a week to £17.00.
These changes do not affect Sunday parking, which will also remain free in all council owned car parks. Similarly, the reserved parking bays for “blue badge” holders remain unchanged and will continue to not be charged for.
The cabinet agreed to keep the commitment of free Christmas parking in the town centre and four free parking days will remain in place in the council’s long stay car parks. However, to offer additional support to the local businesses and encourage more people to shop local, these will be adjusted to include some weekend dates. Instead of 4 consecutive Fridays these will now be made available on 2 consecutive Fridays and Saturdays on the run up to Christmas: 13 December, Saturday 14 December, Friday 20 December and Saturday 21 December.
Cllr Pip Allnatt, Leader of the Council said, “ We have listened to feedback from our community and made changes which reflect what you have told us. Increasing the number of free spaces at St Marys Car Park along with increasing the time people can stay there from 20 minutes to 30 mins will really support our local business by allowing more people to drop into the high street. We have been able to hold our prices for the last five years and have done the best we can to keep the rates down; these new rates remain under the current rate of inflation. Our offer of free parking permits to local businesses and restricting increase for weekly long stay charges helps everyone. Our modest increases will also help us to repair and maintain our car parks. There will be no charges to our existing free car parks including in Asfordby.”
Payment methods will remain the same and people will still be able to use cash or the Pay By Phone app in the council owned car parks.
A number of changes are required to get the car parks ready for April 2025, such as the new signage and relining the free parking bays at St Marys Car Park.