Two hours of free parking to be reintroduced

The free parking period will encourage visitors to the Wakefield area, the council says

Two hours' free parking could be re-introduced at council-run car parks across Wakefield in time for Christmas, if new plans are given the go-ahead.

The council said it planned to scrap charges at all its off-street car parks in Wakefield city centre, Castleford, Pontefract, Ossett, Normanton and South Elmsall in a bid to boost local businesses and encourage footfall.

Council leader Denise Jeffery said: "We know residents want to see our city and town centres thriving, and we want more people to spend more of their money with our amazing local businesses."

Councillors are expected to approve the scheme at a meeting on 16 September.

Previously, two hours of free parking had been put in place at off-street car parks in Wakefield at the start of the Covid pandemic in April 2020.

But charges were reintroduced in April 2023 to tackle a £24m budget shortfall because the free parking was costing £1.8m a year in revenue, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

'Listened to businesses'

In July this year, Wakefield Council announced it had dropped plans to introduce Sunday parking charges.

Matthew Morley, the council's cabinet member for planning and highways, said he was "really pleased" the council was to bring back two hours of free parking.

"We've listened to local businesses and our residents who've been telling us how much they value support like this, making it easier to spend time in our city and towns," he said.

The council added that it was also providing over £1m of funding to help businesses improve their shops and increase security, and had recently made sure that pavement café licences remained free.

However, people using country parks at Newmillerdam, Anglers and Pugneys would still be expected to pay for parking under the latest proposals.

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.