Weston-super-Mare parking changes approved

Parking meters are to be introduced in parts of Weston-super-Mare town centre.

Conservative-run North Somerset Council has approved a plan to charge £1.20 an hour on some residential roads, with a two-hour maximum stay.

Charges for off-street car parking have been reduced to £1 an hour for the first three hours. The council said the changes would help reduce congestion.

Liberal Democrat Mike Bell called for the plans to be withdrawn or delayed to extend consultations with locals.

A council spokesperson said the new charges would be imposed between 9am and 6pm from Monday to Saturday, and residents would be able to buy a permit to allow them to park outside their homes.

The scheme has been introduced following the publication of a <link> <caption>report</caption> <altText>report</altText> <url href="http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/cairo/docs/doc23392.pdf" platform="highweb"/> </link> which said parking around the town centre was "under strain".

Proposals to add a further 180 spaces to Nailsea and Backwell railway station car park and introduce car parking charges were also approved.

The council said the plans would "make spaces available to shoppers, raise the economic vitality of the town, increase enforcement, reduce congestion, improve traffic flow and improve disabled parking".

North Somerset Liberal Democrat leader Mike Bell said: "Despite many legitimate concerns that the proposed charge of £1.20 an hour could kill town centre business, that residents were getting a raw deal and that the knock-on effects had not been thought through, the proposals were forced through by the executive."