ONS Report calls for free Sunday car parking in Bromsgrove - The Bromsgrove Standard

ONS Report calls for free Sunday car parking in Bromsgrove

Bromsgrove Editorial 28th Jan, 2015 Updated: 17th Oct, 2016   0

FREE parking on Sundays should be introduced for a six-month trial in Bromsgrove’s car parks, according to a district council overview and scruting board.

And the report from the group, which is due to go before the authority’s cabinet on Wednesday (February 4), also recommended the pay and display car parks be changed to pay on foot.

The task group examined data and reports from council officers, studied the town centre survey carried out towards the end of last year and examined approaches taken by similar authorities.

With regard to free Sunday parking, it was calculated that, excluding VAT, from April to September last year, the council’s pay and display car parks made £15,686 and the pay on foot ones £15,616, meaning there would potentially be a revenue loss of £31,302.




Figures in the report showed of the 90 businesses in Bromsgrove High Street, 21 opened on a Sunday and of the 72 in Worcester Road and elsewhere in the town centre, 15 were open on that day.

A 12-month trial of free car parking in Bromsgrove in the evening is about to get underway and it was stated during board meetings that as more premises were open on Sundays than were in the evenings, Sunday parking would be more beneficial to residents.


Another recommendation by the board was that, as part of the Town Centre Regeneration Programme all the pay and display car parks be changed to pay on foot, similar to the system used in the Asda car park.

The cost of introducing pay on foot in 2010 was £193,000 which, it was calculated, with inflation the expenditure would be close to £213,000.

But, as less barriers would be needed because Asda also had the multi-storey car park to convert, the board deemed the overall cost to between £150,000 and £200,000

After discussing the recommendations, the members of the cabinet will have the option of agreeing, rejecting or amending the report and will then have to provide an official response to the overview and scrutiny board.

If agreed that may include an action plan detailing how and when the recommendations be implemented.

The cabinet could also request the relevant portfolio holder – Coun Mark Bullivant – consult with officers to map out the implementation dates.

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