Free parking in Forest of Dean for up to an hour

Forest of Dean District Council set its budget for 2024/25 at a meeting last week

An hour's free parking is coming to parts of Gloucestershire following a council tax rise.

Forest of Dean District Council (FoDDC) had initially considered a 300% hike for the minimum charge for a two-hour parking stay as part of budget proposals.

But it has instead scrapped plans to increase the minimum charge and abolished it for the first hour.

The changes will apply to towns across the district.

However, parking charges will still increase from 50p to £1 for two hours, from £1 to £2 for up to three hours and from £1.50 to £3 for four hours.

Stays of more than four hours will increase in cost from £2 to £4, as reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

It comes after FoDDC approved its budget for the upcoming financial year.

The council is facing a funding gap of £2.8m by 2028 and plans to reduce this by making savings and increasing fees and charges.

It increased council tax payments by 2.99%, meaning that from April, residents of band D properties in the district will have to pay £205.80 a year.

Finance cabinet member Andy Moore (G, Newnham), told a council meeting on 22 February that the cabinet had listened to people over parking charges.

"The car parks should more than break even, and please be reassured any surplus would be reinvested into car park improvements," he said.

"Forestry England, Herefordshire, Monmouthshire, Cotswolds and Stroud all charge comparable or greater fees for parking than we are currently setting for the Forest."

Conservative group leader Harry Ives (Lydney North) said residents in Lydney do not want any increase to parking charges meaning he could not support the budget.

"There's no shame or stigma whatsoever in a councillor refusing to support something because their residents object to it," he said.

The budget was approved with 24 councillors voting in favour, 10 against with four abstentions.