Newcastle free parking will be cut to discourage car use

Newcastle City Council wants to discourage car use in the centre

Free evening parking in Newcastle city centre will be cut to discourage car use, a council has confirmed.

Since the launch of the Alive After Five scheme in 2010, parking at seven sites has been free after 17:00 to boost evening trade.

Newcastle City Council said there was a "need to reduce air pollution and our carbon footprint".

Although a consultation will be held, the council said the scheme would end early in 2022.

Five of the seven council-run car parks that are currently free after 17:00 will see the offer scrapped, namely Eldon Square, Eldon Garden, Dean Street, Oxford Street, and Grainger Town, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Those five sites will all have parking charges extended to 22:00 - as will all on-street parking bays and surface car parks within the core city centre.

The Quayside and Manors multi-storeys, both also part of Alive After Five, will instead be free after 18:00, which will also remain the cut-off time for fees at the Claremont Road car park near the Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Under the council's proposals, a £3 all-day rate for Sunday parking in the city centre will also be binned and drivers will instead have to pay standard hourly rates.

The local authority said the changes would generate an extra £230,000 in revenue a year.

Ged Bell, the council's cabinet member for development, neighbourhoods and transport said: "The proposals we have set out reflect the need to manage and respond to changing demand for car parking in the city centre.

"We must also take into account the need to reduce air pollution and our carbon footprint - both of which are greatly affected by the volume of traffic on our roads."