Council announces increase in parking charges and wider availability of season tickets along with improvements to Cotswold car parks

The Council is also planning to invest in the future of its car parks by installing new electric vehicle charging points and by making enhancements across the Council car parks.

Jenny Poole, Cotswold District Council’s Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer, said: “Our core Government funding has been cut by around 60 per cent over the past 10 years. We are also facing inflationary pressures on our finances and the costs of our services, so we must plan ahead if we are to protect and improve our car parks.

“By increasing our parking charges and season ticket prices, we will be able to support our services while investing in the modernisation of our car parks and also helping to alleviate the capacity pressures we see in our most popular car parks. 

“We have plans to make upgrades by installing more electric vehicle charging points and we will be completely refurbishing the Rissington Road car park in Bourton-on-the-Water.

“We understand there may be some concern from businesses and residents in the District about the price increases and the decision to increase parking charges is not one we take lightly. However, due to the constraints on the Council’s finances, we need to make tough choices if we are to manage our budget effectively and continue to invest in our car parks.”

A new season ticket offer has been approved that will abolish the waiting list for seasonal parking permits. A maximum season ticket allocation policy of 50% for each car park will be implemented to ensure enough availability for people without season tickets. No new season tickets will be sold for car parks above this threshold.

The Council is removing the ‘free after 3 pm’ scheme which was introduced in 2015 at a time where there was a shortage of parking spaces in Cirencester while maintenance work in the Forum car park was taking place.

As part of the Council's budget consultation last autumn, residents were asked whether they thought charging periods in our car parks should change in order to raise much-needed additional revenue. Of the three alternative changes presented, re-introducing charges between 3pm to 6pm was the preferred option. 

Changes to charges in Tetbury are designed to encourage more use of the Church Street and Old Railyard car parks and therefore to reduce pressure on spaces in the West Street car park.

In recognition of the Whiteway car park only being accessible by season ticket holders from Monday to Friday, the annual season ticket price in that car park will be £100 lower than in the Waterloo, Old Station and Sheep Street car parks and £150 lower than in the Abbey car park. Tickets for three months and six months parking at the Whiteway car park will now be available for £125 and £250 respectively. The Whiteway car park also has four EV charging bays for electric vehicles up and running. 

All Cotswold District car parks will now be operated at the same times on Mondays to Saturdays, with charging from 8am to 6pm. It will remain free to park on Sundays in our car parks except those in Bourton-on-the-Water and Stow-on-the-Wold as at present. Free parking during the evening and overnight continues in all our car parks.

The Council will be implementing a small increase in car park charges to help maintain car parks and enable continued investment in parking services. Changes for day tariffs and season tickets, including the removal of the ‘free after 3 pm’ scheme will come into effect from April 2022. Car park ticket prices will be increased by 5%, rounded up to the nearest 10p.