Council scraps Sunday parking charges plan

Wakefield Council had mooted the proposals earlier this month

A council has confirmed it has scrapped plans to introduce Sunday parking charges.

Wakefield Council said proposals to introduce fees at off-street car parks in Wakefield, Castleford and Pontefract was "not what our towns and city centre needs".

Last week, the local authority placed notices at 25 off-street car parks across the district affected by the proposed charges, including Westgate and Borough Road in Wakefield, Morrison's supermarket in Pontefract and Welbeck Street in Castleford.

Sunday parking at off-street car parks across the district is currently free.

Charges are in place at most car parks between 08:00 and 18:00, Monday to Saturday.

According to the notices, the authority also intended to introduce a maximum vehicle length of five metres at Tithe Barn Street car park, in Horbury.

The plan also included introducing a loading area at Anglers Country Park car park, Wintersett Reservoir, and proposed bank holiday charges at Newmillerdam Country Park car park.

Borough Road car park in Wakefield was among the sites where Sunday charges were proposed

But Matthew Morley, the council's cabinet member for planning and highways, said: "We're scrapping plans to introduce Sunday parking charges.

"We're here for residents and businesses and it's not what our towns and city centre needs."

In April last year, the council increased car parking charges across the district for the first time in eight years.

The authority said at the time it had been left with "no choice" but to put up fee due to financial challenges.

Parking charges were reintroduced at most council car parks in April 2023, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

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