The popular free one hour parking in Erewash will continue, but Erewash Borough Council has agreed that changes to other car parking charges are needed to fund the scheme.
Parking charges will increase in all car parks from Monday 4 April in a move aimed at helping fund the one hour free parking in Ilkeston and Long Eaton town centre car parks.
The charges at Long Eaton Train Station commuters’ car park, which are currently very cheap compared to other station car parks, will also increase to keep it more in line with other similar stations.
A review of the free scheme confirmed that its ongoing cost could not be sustained, with the council having lost £100,000 between April and September last year and continues to face losses of around £18,000 a month.
The free parking was introduced as a town centre regeneration initiative and has become increasingly popular with residents and town centre businesses.
Councillor Garry Hickton, Erewash Borough Council’s Lead Member for Environment, says:
“These are financially challenging times for all local authorities and although the free one hour parking is extremely popular and residents want it to continue, we have to find ways to fund it.
“The parking charges have not been increased since 2008 and any attempt to offset the cost of the free one hour parking has to come from the parking budget. Even with this increase in the parking charges, we are still potentially looking at losses, so we will have to continue to review the situation.”
The new charges will be the same in all the council’s car parks, removing the different tariffs which have existed in some car parks – a move which has been asked for by many drivers.
All the new parking fees will be applicable Monday to Saturday from 8am-6pm from 4 April.
