Cash strapped Somerset Council is looking at equalising car park charges across the county with a view to grabbing some additional income. Currently the Unitary authority has inherited different scales of charges from the different districts, which disappeared in the Unitary reforms of 2023, and the new proposal currently going through the Council could see the introduction of overnight charges, introducing parking fees on a Sunday, ending free parking and introducing on street parking fees. Bridgwater Labour councillors have reacted angrily with Mayor Jacqui Solomon calling it ‘appalling greed’ and Town Council Leader Brian Smedley urging for the transfer of car parks to Town Councils ‘as originally promised’.
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 said by the County Lib Dem leaders “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.”
What is proposed…
If approved in principle by the Council’s Lib Dem 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 (Lib Dem, Langport) 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.”
Bridgwater Labour Councillors Speak Out
Mayor of Bridgwater Cllr Jacqui Solomon (Labour, Eastover) said “I think this is an appalling greed, the carparks are unlikely to improve from the investment. It will increase on street parking, have a real effect on the nighttime economy especially our Northgate complex which is going very well. There is a real case for Bridgwater to control our own car parks, tailoring the times to suit our needs, this could include 2 hours free parking or other initiatives to improve our offer to improve access to the town centre.”
Cllr Tim Mander (Labour,Westover) Co-Chair of the Bridgwater Transport Forum, said “Bridgwater’s public car parks are currently free between 6pm and 9am and free all day Sunday. This small concession does help the nighttime economy and both Sunday trading and the monthly independent market. Local Authorities cannot use number plate recognition to enforce parking regulations. Therefore, if Somerset Council now moves to overnight and Sunday charging it will need to employ enforcement staff, at some cost, so the question is will this be cost effective? This change will be detrimental to a number of businesses many of whom are currently struggling. I do not believe that income generation will be sufficient to justify the disruption to the businesses who rely on the benefit that the current free parking arrangements bring with it. “
Just Give Them to Us
Bridgwater Town Council Leader Brian Smedley is also not convinced. “Yet again this is the Tories, who created all these problems that the County Council is facing, now pretending to take the high moral ground and look like butter wouldn’t melt in their exhaust pipes. Tell it like it actually is – the Tories when setting up the Unitary came to all the town councils and asked us what we were prepared to take on, we said give us the car parks and the income stream that went with them, and we’d keep them in public ownership and the prices low. Now that the Tories lost their own unitary and the Lib Dems are in power and facing a 66£m funding gap this year and perilously close to collapse, they also came to us and asked us what we want. We said ‘car parks’, they wouldn’t give them to us. The main problem here is the LibDems are trying to introduce a uniformity across the county when they don’t need to. If we ran our own car parks, then that would be an income stream for Bridgwater, and it would also mean that other towns and parishes could set their charges locally or make them free if they want. There actually isn’t a need to set a single rate across the county, and what they need to do now is what they originally promised and devolve car parking to Town Councils, and we would then keep them low.”