Council car park charges rise for first time in three years

Car parks such as Abbey Foregate in Shrewsbury are among those set to feature an increase in charges

Charges in some council-owned car parks in Shropshire will rise for the first time since 2022.

Shropshire Council said the funds would be spent on the upkeep of existing car parks, supporting improvements to roads, and public transport.

The changes are the first stage of a wider review into parking that was agreed by the council in December 2024.

Rob Wilson, the council's cabinet member for transport and economic growth, said the Government transport funding received by the authority was "not keeping track with costs".

The changes will come into effect from 3 November, but car parks that are currently free on Sundays and bank holidays will stay that way.

In addition, Shrewsbury's on-street parking will rise from £2.80 per hour to £3.60 per hour - a move "justified by the need to manage very high demand", according to the council.

Band 2 parking provision - for example Shrewsbury's Bridge Street car park and Ludlow's on-street parking - will rise from £2.00 per hour to £2.80 per hour.

Car parks in band 3 - such as Oswestry's Festival Square and Shrewsbury's St Julians Friars - are going up to £1.40 per hour from £1.20 per hour.

Parking in a band 4 car park - including Frankwell Riverside in Shrewsbury and Back Lane in Much Wenlock - will from next month cost £1.20 per hour, up from 80p per hour.

Band 5 car parks - including Frogmore Road in Market Drayton and Abbey Foregate in Shrewsbury - are going up from 60p per hour to 70p per hour.

However, band 6 car parks, such as Smithfield in Ludlow and Crossways in Church Stretton, are not facing increases in a bid, the council says, to "support the viability of smaller town centres".

Band 7 car parks will remain free, and a full list of the car parks affected by the changes can be found on Shropshire Council's website.

Shropshire Council said that since the last time prices went up, in 2022, "the impact of inflation had significantly increased" the costs of maintaining "Shropshire's car parks, highways, and public transport services".

Rob Wilson said the money raised would be reinvested into the county's transport services and roads, which would "allow general council funds to be focused on protecting other essential services".

He added that officers had "worked hard to limit the rise", and that the authority had "chosen not to change the hours of operation or remove the charging cap".

"An increase in parking charges was part of the budget agreed by the last council at the start of this year," Wilson said, adding that "our financial emergency means that we must now introduce these changes".