Powys parking: Council to increase pay-and-display charges
Increases in parking charges across Powys are on the way to help the county council save £12m to balance its books.
Parking for up to one hour in a long-stay car park will cost £1, up from 70p, while for two hours it goes up by more than half from £1.30 to £2. The council says it will peg the cost of an annual permit at £370, saying it offers regular users a 60% discount on the pay-and-display prices. The extra cash raised will also help fund free parking for blue badge users. The charge for parking a car for more than four hours is to rise from £3.20 to £4 - a 25% increase - while lorry drivers face a rise of more than 50% from £5.30 to £8. Vehicles that take up two spaces will be expected to pay double the price, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Short-stay car parks in Powys will still charge £1 for up to an hour, but the charge for up to two hours will rise from £1.50 to £2. A report that laid out the options said the price of annual permits would be frozen to encourage regular users. "Predominantly these will be people who work in a town and travel by car," it said. "The annual cost of £370, when compared to the daily charge, will be beneficial to someone who on average parks two days per week in a pay-and-display car park." Powys County Council has set a £200,000 savings target for the service, but predicts the new charges will raise an extra £280,000. The authority said any extra cash would be used to offset the £100,000 cost of free parking for people with disabilities entitled to a blue badge.