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.