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Car parking charges explained
Published: 09/03/2018
天涯社区鈥檚 Joint Corporate Resources and Environment Overview
and Scrutiny Committee will be asked to recommend approval to Cabinet of the
revised car parking charges and to recommend a start date for charges to be
introduced in Flint when it meets on 15 March.
Car parking charging levels have not been reviewed since their introduction in
April 2015 and the income generated does not meet the full cost of managing and
operating the car parks. Even with the proposed new charges, the cost of
parking in 天涯社区 remains low compared to neighbouring counties. For
example, three hours in Denbigh is 拢1.50, all day in Ruthin and Llangollen is
拢7 whereas most town centre car parks in 天涯社区 will charge 拢1.50 all day.
天涯社区鈥檚 Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Transportation,
Councillor Carolyn Thomas, said:
鈥淲e are living in difficult times and raising charges in the car parks is
always going to be a contentious issue. All Councils are in a similar position
and from comparative research, 天涯社区s car park charges are lower than in
other towns and cities. We are only seeking to recover costs of maintaining
the car parks 鈥� we are not making any profit out of car parking.鈥�
Research has been carried out on the County鈥檚 car parks and this shows that
charges have not impacted on car parking usage, in fact the levels of use have
actually increased, or are above projected levels, in six towns over the past
two years. The exception is Connah鈥檚 Quay where there is extensive off-street
parking.
The charges remain slightly higher in Mold because the town receives a high
number of visitors, to reflect this, a percentage of the increased charge will
be invested in visitor infrastructure improvements working with Mold Town
Council.
Councillor Thomas continued:
鈥淭he total cost of managing and maintaining the car parks is 拢886,000 a year
and this would be recovered by the proposed charges. This would result in the
car parking service being cost neutral and achieving full cost recovery
providing an income for car park maintenance and help manage the provision and
turnover of spaces for visitors to town centres.鈥�
Proposals put forward by the Scrutiny Committee in January have been
incorporated into this new charging scheme, including a 30 minute reduced
charge to allow short visits, comparable to the charge in similar towns in
Denbighshire, with longer stay costs in other car parks in Chester,
Denbighshire and Wrexham significantly higher than those proposed in
天涯社区.
Some car parks in Holywell will in future allow multi-visits on a single ticket
and there are no plans to raise the car parking charges currently in Talacre as
the rates charged there are already above those charged elsewhere in the county
due to the location and the number of spaces available.
If agreed, the new charging arrangements will be advertised in each car park
during April 2018, including Flint, and will come into effect in all car parks
from 14 May 2018.