Council looks to rebalance car park charges to improve availability of parking spaces

With the aim of improving availability of parking space close to Great Malvern town centre,  Malvern Hills District Council’s Executive Committee will be asked to rebalance car park charges at its next meeting on 24th January.

Whilst most car park charges will remain the same, it is proposed that charges for short stay car parks in Great Malvern will be increased along with corresponding reductions for stays of up to 2 hours in all council long stay car parks. These changes aim to encourage drivers to park in long stay car parks rather than parking on street, often in contravention of parking restrictions.

The price of long stay car park season tickets is  also recommended to be cut by a third to encourage greater uptake. These low cost permits will be aimed at local traders and their employees to free up space on street closer to shops and businesses.

The council undertook a major consultation exercise last autumn which identified problems with availability of short term parking, especially in Great Malvern town centre. People who responded to the consultation  strongly supported the introduction of differential pricing between short stay car parks close to the town centre and long stay car parks on the edge of the town centre, so as  to encourage motorists to make better use of all the available parking capacity.

These changes represent the first step in implementing the council’s On and Off Street Car Parking Strategy which it adopted last November following the extensive public consultation exercise. It is the first time the council has changed its car parking charges since 2008, and it also avoided passing on the VAT increase to motorists this time last year. Councillor Bronwen Behan, Portfolio Holder responsible for car parking said:

“This council is determined to reduce problems of congestion and improve the availability of parking spaces. We believe introducing a differential between charges for short stay and long stay car parks will provide positive encourage to drivers to make better use of available parking capacity. This approach is supported by our recent public consultation.

We are making reductions in our long stay charges to correspond with increasing our short stay charges in Great Malvern because we recognise the importance of affordable parking to our residents, visitors and local businesses. Our car parking charges will continue to be some of the most competitive in the West Midlands whilst our concessionary permits continue to be some of the cheapest in the whole country”.