Harrogate Borough Council
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Good news on car parking charges
THE council's recent review of car parking
charges will not lead to increases in Knaresborough, Pateley Bridge
or Ripon. Small reductions have also been made
in Harrogate town centre with other areas facing a small
increase. Overall, the town's charges remain
much lower than near neighbours Leeds and York.
And new inner and outer zones have been developed for
on-street car parking. Charges are being reduced
for streets in the outer zone of the town centre, including
Commercial Street, Lower Station Parade, part of West Park and
Victoria Avenue. Costs for parking on streets in
the inner zone including James Street, Parliament Street,
Montpellier will rise to the equivalent of £1 per hour or 50p
for thirty minutes. The restricted 20-minute
stay around the banks and war memorial remains unchanged.
In line with national and local transportation policy,
Harrogate Borough Council has to balance retaining the vitality and
viability of town centres to keep an adequate supply of short stay
car parking for shoppers whilst on the other hand it has to address
the fact that long stay parking contributes towards peak hour
traffic congestion.
The review of charges has been undertaken in the light of
these policies.
Income from onstreet car parking must be spent on improving
parking or highway and public transport improvements, such as the
redevelopment of the Jubilee multi-storey car park and improvements
to the Victoria and West Park car parks. On the other hand, income
from offstreet parking is used to support a wide range of essential
council services such as street cleansing, refuse collection and
running the CCTV system.
Councillor Julian Sturdy, Cabinet Member for Transport, said:
"This is a balanced review of car parking charges, with some
charges actually going down, a few will be going up but the
majority are staying unchanged. The new inner and outer zones for
on street car parking will give people the choice to park for less
if they are prepared to walk a bit further.
Charges are going up at Jubilee multistorey car park, however,
charges at this state of the art car park have not increased since
it was opened in 2002, and charges at the Victoria and Tower Street
MSCPs are to remain unchanged, as will the charges on the majority
of surface level car parks."
Other slight variations include the removal of free parking at
Dragon Road where a £1 charge will now apply for two
hours. .
The Knaresborough Parking study identified the need to
increase turnover in the Fisher Street and Chapel Street car parks
as a way of increasing the supply of short stay
parking. Knaresborough Town Council and the
Chamber of Trade have supported the council's move to reduce the
maximum stay time of these car parks from four hours to
two. ENDS
FUTHER INFORMATION: Councillor Julian Sturdy is available
for comment on 07836 692010. Further technical
information is available from Mr John Burton, Head of Transport on
01423 556606.