Parking charges to return to country park

The council has been unable to charge visitors to park for more than a year

Car parking charges are set to return to a country park "within the next few weeks" after a barrier was damaged last year.

Over Easter 2024 the car parking system at Leicestershire County Council's car park for Watermead Park in Birstall suffered vandalism including damage to the entrance barrier.

A decision was taken to replace the system and introduce automatic number plate recognition to monitor vehicles using the site.

While the system has been in place since February, the council said "significant delays" to the connection by Openreach held it up from going live.

A spokesperson for the authority said: "Following vandalism in March 2024, a decision was taken to replace rather than repair the parking payment system at Watermead Park, due to better cost efficiency.

"The new system is due to go live within the next few weeks and park users will be informed via our usual channels."