Powys parking: Council to increase pay-and-display charges

Image source, LDRS

Image caption, Parking for up to one hour in a long-stay car park will cost Β£1, up from 70p

Increases in parking charges across Powys are on the way to help the county council save Β£12m to balance its books.

Parking for up to one hour in a long-stay car park will cost Β£1, up from 70p, while for two hours it goes up by more than half from Β£1.30 to Β£2.

The council says it will peg the cost of an annual permit at Β£370, saying it offers regular users a 60% discount on the pay-and-display prices.

The extra cash raised will also help fund free parking for blue badge users.

The charge for parking a car for more than four hours is to rise from Β£3.20 to Β£4 - a 25% increase - while lorry drivers face a rise of more than 50% from Β£5.30 to Β£8.

Vehicles that take up two spaces will be expected to pay double the price, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Short-stay car parks in Powys will still charge Β£1 for up to an hour, but the charge for up to two hours will rise from Β£1.50 to Β£2.

A report that laid out the options said the price of annual permits would be frozen to encourage regular users.

"Predominantly these will be people who work in a town and travel by car," it said.

"The annual cost of Β£370, when compared to the daily charge, will be beneficial toΒ someone who on average parks two days per week in a pay-and-display car park."

Powys County Council has set a Β£200,000 savings target for the service, but predicts the new charges will raise an extra Β£280,000.

The authority said any extra cash would be used to offset the Β£100,000 cost of free parking for people with disabilities entitled to a blue badge.