Reading Borough Council parking price rise fuels anger

Weekend long-stay charges for Queens Road car park will increase from £7 to £16.50

Residents have reacted angrily to "idiotic" council price rises for some of its weekend parking sites.

Reading's Queens Road long-stay car park prices will more than double from £7 to £16.50, while long-stay parking at Broad Street Mall will rise by £6.

Shoppers said it sounded a death knell for the town's shops because they would either buy online or go elsewhere.

The council said it increased the charges to encourage shoppers to use its park-and-ride facilities.

It said charges for three hours parking or less would remain the same at the five council-owned and NCP-managed car parks, and even decrease in some cases.

'Exorbitantly expensive'

Residents commenting on an online forum said a day out in Reading usually lasted more than three hours, and they would now consider shopping in nearby Basingstoke, Bracknell or Oxford, which have cheaper parking.

Resident Lou Aimes-Hill called parking prices "already exorbitantly expensive" and said people would instead "use online shopping options instead of visiting their local stores".

She said London's Westfield shopping centre cost £6 for the day.

Alice Hassall said: "RIP Reading town centre," while Amy Parks called the decision an "idiot move".

Some people said there was no park-and-ride service nearby for them to use.

Reading UK, which represents the town's businesses, said it was "concerned about any changes that could potentially put off people", but that any changes would probably not have "a significant impact on the town centre economy".

Its chief executive, Nigel Horton-Baker, said its figures showed two-thirds of town centre shoppers travelled by public transport and "other non-car means of travel", but that he would "monitor the situation over the next few months".