Council Ratifies Proposed Parking Charge Changes

Proposed changes to car parking charges across the county have been approved at a full meeting of Herefordshire Council.

At its meeting this morning, Friday, November 7, Councillors voted in favour of implementing the proposed package of changes by 36 votes to 18, with one abstention.

Following a meeting of Cabinet on October 23, it was agreed that while the authority is still committed to bringing in the changes, it is still willing to consider representations which could influence the charges levied in various car parks.

Cllr Wilson, Cabinet Member (Highways and Transportation), said he was pleased the Council had finally backed his proposals in which he had attempted to achieve some form of fairness across the county.

“It’s worth baring in mind that charges in 15 car parks have not changed, five car parks in Ross have been reduced to 30p for the first hour.

“While some charges have been introduced in Kington and Leominster there still remains 71% free parking in Kington and 69% in Leominster.

“We’re taking a pragmatic approach and if there are genuine reasons which can be supported by factual evidence for altering the proposed changes at individual car parks, we will do so.

“Now that we have the full backing of Council we have the mandate to proceed – this also includes a fundamental review of the Council’s Car Parking Strategy which commits the authority to annual reviews of parking charges,” said Cllr Wilson.

He added that there was still time for individuals and groups, such as Parish and Town Councils, to make representation to him if they had the evidence to support a case for altering the proposed changes.

“We intend to bring in the changes in January so I need to know by the end of this month if anyone has any evidence which I need to take into account,” added Cllr Wilson.