Cheshire East Council proposes to increase parking charges

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Cheshire East Council is to consult on proposals to increase parking charges across the borough from March 2019.

The proposals include:

● Increasing the parking price on most Cheshire East Council-owned car parks by 10 pence across each tariff;

● Increasing the charges at car parks by railway stations, which recognises the higher premium charged in the private sector whilst remaining highly competitive and encouraging more sustainable methods of travel to train stations;

● Increasing the cost of resident parking permits;

● Introducing an administration fee for the replacement of parking permits; and

● Introducing some car parks into the car park order meaning parking restrictions can be enforced where needed.

Frank Jordan, executive director of place and acting deputy chief executive said: "It is our responsibility to ensure our car parks are safe, secure and well maintained – and that there is a good turnaround of spaces for visitors and shoppers.

"The money that comes from car parks helps us to do this and ensures that our car parks fund themselves, rather than us having to use money intended for vital frontline services elsewhere.

"For Cheshire East Council, this is not a profit-making scheme. The revenue generated will help to ensure a quality of service that people expect when they come to one of our car parks.

"We strive to make parking as user friendly and supportive to our towns as possible. These proposals do not impact existing car park incentives such as, free after 3pm, leisure centre refunds or the town and parish council four free days allowance.

"While we would prefer to leave things as they are, we continue to be forced to make a range of tough and, at times, unpopular decisions. This is a sign of the pressure local authorities, like ours, face with reductions in funding from central government and increased demand for essential frontline services.

"We have been forced to make millions of pounds of savings year on year, while protecting essential and much-needed frontline services, including those to the most vulnerable in our communities."

The proposal to increase parking charges was included in the council's full budget report 2018/19 and agreed, subject to statutory consultation, at a meeting of full council on 22 February 2018.

Further details about the proposals, and information on how to make a representation, can be found aon the council's website.

Tags:
Cheshire East Council, Parking, Parking
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Helen Williams
Tuesday 27th November 2018 at 3:29 pm
So when there's an issue with parking on the roads the car park charges increase so more people will be parking on the roads, genius! I have lived here all my life and Wilmslow is being ruined
David Nuttall
Tuesday 27th November 2018 at 4:07 pm
I think the statement :-
"It is our responsibility to ensure our car parks are safe secure and well maintained"
Does not seem to apply to West Street
Long overdue a complete re-furbishment
collapsing fences and over-gown with vegetation from the railway line
No expense spared on the new ticket machine
Not the impression you would want to project
Stephen Maynard
Tuesday 27th November 2018 at 5:10 pm
So East Cheshire want to know why so many shops are closing and remaining empty and why people aren’t attracted into town centres to do their shopping - when will they wake up to the reality that by having insufficient parking and charging for it and increasing such charges is certainly enough to stop many people going shopping- a real contributory factor towards the death of the high street - well done Cheshire East !!!
Harry Martin
Tuesday 27th November 2018 at 9:50 pm
Nice ..lets all go where there is free parking . Why pay to spend money in the shops ?
Ian Cook
Tuesday 27th November 2018 at 11:06 pm
The Duke of Westminster is initiating a scheme to stimulate independent business to start up in his properties, why don’t CEC follow suit and scrap all parking charges or have them free for 2 hours after 10am to enable people to shop for free and start the charges after 2 hours.
David Carey
Wednesday 28th November 2018 at 10:30 am
So many people above have got it spot on.
Spend parking monies or go somewhere where it is completely free?
Shops are closing down across the country at a rate of knots so increase parking monies?
Safe, secure and well maintained (haven't exactly seen much of that?)
And lastly, more people will park on the roads rather than a car park?
Yes, it is all about incentives not deterrents!
Vin Sumner
Wednesday 28th November 2018 at 10:34 pm
Or perhaps rethink the use of cars ... if they didn’t exist we would never allow lumps of metal to be “driven” around destroying the places we live in and killing hundreds of people a year ... think about it ..
Tony Haluradivth
Thursday 29th November 2018 at 5:40 pm
How do you propose folk get around Vin Sumner? My daughter works as a carer she has a huge radius she has to travel each day and she has to sometimes carry hoists and other equipment. Explain to me how she would do this job on a bicycle when she is allocated a set time to reach each client. Tell me of a fantasy bus service which would bring her on time to the road of each of her clients. Perhaps you are retired? So am I but I do not live in "Cloud Cuckoo land" And as you regard Cars as "lumps of metal" where do you stand on ambulances perhaps they should be shire horse driven carts...but then they could be driven badly and trample some poor pedestrian so you might want to ban those too. And FYI it is not the "cars which go around killing people" it is the drivers of those cars who are usually at fault....
Norma Turner
Friday 30th November 2018 at 9:37 pm
I moved out of Alderley , I'm in Cheshire West , 2hrs free parking in all car parks within Cheshire West it certainly encourages people to shop in the area.
I think some lessons could be learned from adjoining councils.
Vin Sumner
Saturday 1st December 2018 at 1:05 am
Tony .., perhaps reflect rather than rage and think about different ways ... personal cars are on the way out ... that means we need new forms of transport for your daughter and others .. Vin
Alison Cartwright
Tuesday 4th December 2018 at 7:58 pm
I parked in the station car park last night at 19.49 & paid for one day so was shocked to receive a £50 penalty notice. Apparently my one day session expired at 01.59! So now one day in Northern Rail terms does not equal 24 hours and I’m intrigued if I’d parked there for one day at 01.30 would that mean only 30 minutes parking! Perhaps someone local could test the theory and let me know? I’ve sent a complaint to Northern Rail but surprisingly they have a backlog-there’s not even the option to pay less to settle it early.
Charlie Gaughan
Wednesday 5th December 2018 at 2:59 am
Of course they are TFB
John Clegg
Saturday 8th December 2018 at 2:47 pm
Alison Cartwright, there's a useful group on Facebook, Fight Your Private Parking Invoice, who will be able to advise what to do, and - in may cases - can help over-turn it.
Tony Haluradivth
Saturday 15th December 2018 at 12:01 pm
Vin Sumner (as I said before ) you live in "cloud cuckoo land" and are the one "raging against the machine" ;)) I presume you practise what you preach and shun all lumps of metal on our road ( with or without an internal combustion engine). And good luck (by the way) waiting for your delayed/cancelled Northern Rail service......
Ian Cook
Tuesday 18th December 2018 at 4:11 pm
Vin and Tony
Fight against the system not each other, both have good points, Vin yours will become a reality with driverless electric cars in a few years time, but now we need to create and more importantly protect and support our local village businesses, so let’s push for easier free parking and more of it rather than having to travel to out of town or city centres for shopping.