BROMSGROVE’S Churchfields multi-storey car park will become all-digital from next week to mark the final round of upgrades by the district council.
The pay on foot barriers will be replaced at Churchfields on Thursday May 19, as will a similar system at a car park on Recreation Road.
However, unlike Churchfields, which will become an online only service, Recreation Road will have all new ‘pay and stay’ machines installed.
The new MiPermit parking service installed in the four-floor, 300-space multi-storey behind Asda will allow drivers to go online instead of using pay machines or displaying tickets.
This all digital approach at Churchfields will be a first for a Worcestershire council, reducing energy usage and cutting plastic and paper waste usually created from ticket sales.
All upgraded machines except for the one at Churchfields will be able to take card payments and contactless payments as well as cash.
Around one in four Bromsgrove car parks already manage their parking using MiPermit.
A council consultation in 2020 showed that over 60 per cent of respondents preferred card payments at car parks, although feedback showed that people were also against the idea of completely eliminating cash options.
Bromsgrove District Council leader Coun Karen May said: “Ensuring people have access to good, safe parking is part of the lifeblood of any town.
“In Bromsgrove parking is now top quality after a lot of work to update it.
“Improvements across the board have removed the need to always have to juggle coins and notes, remember tickets, deal with window stickers, and so on. It all helps to make life easier and cut waste.”
People with legacy paper permits for Churchfields must continue to pay the fee until those permits expire.
