East Sussex County Council to raise parking fees

The council said the rise was necessary to cover increased costs to running parking schemes

Parking charges are set to rise across East Sussex in a move the council said was necessary to cover increased running costs.

From 2 April, on street parking charges will increase by between five and 95p, while residents' permits will rise by up to £10 a year.

The council said it was "only the second" time in 14 years it had increased prices.

But it comes amid criticism over rising charges in other parts of south east England.

East Sussex County Council said income from its parking schemes paid for their management, enforcement and maintenance, while surplus was reinvested in local transport improvements.

Transparency figures show the council made £6.7m from parking fees in the 2022-23 financial year, with a surplus of £205,443 after expenditure and reinvestment.

But its income included £1.6m in penalty charge notices, which the council said it could not "predict" the amount of each year and therefore did not factor into budgets.

It added that as it could also not "guarantee" the level of income from parking and permit charges, fees were set to ensure costs of parking schemes were fully covered, while the rises were "inflationary" and did not fully cover the increase in its own costs.

But Claire Dowling, the council's lead member for transport and environment, said the increases were "necessary to cover increased costs to the council of running parking schemes".

She added that rising fees could help to "influence driver behaviour" and encourage people to use alternative forms of transport, as well as town centre car parks as opposed to street spaces.

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The increases were approved by full council last month as part of the 2024-25 budget setting process.

Other councils have sought to increase parking fees to plug funding gaps.

In Mid Sussex, residents' groups and opposition councillors have criticised the district council's plans to increase some car park charges by up to 30%.

Businesses in Guildford have also warned an 11% increase in charges could harm trade, while Dover District Council recently backed down from introducing car park fees after receiving 200 objections.