Anglesey parking fees set to rise
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Car parking charges look set to increase in parts of Anglesey, but the installation of new machines will make it easier to pay by phone or card.
Aimed to save around £40,000 a year, charges at coastal car parks are set to increase as part of the budget proposals for 2020/21.
Meeting on Thursday, members of Anglesey Council’s Partnership and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee recommended the hike as part of the council’s budget setting process.
If approved by full council next month, the fees at coastal sites on the island are set to increase from the current £3.50 rate to £4.00, £4.50 rate to £6.00 and £6.00 to £8.00.
However, members largely opposed further hikes at urban car parks due to the feared impact on town centres, in a move that would have saved a further £30,000.
They did, however, propose to eliminate the current 50p charge for half an hour’s parking, with the minimum charge now set to be £1 for an hour.
In a bid to embrace demands for alternative ways to pay – with the current machines only accepting coins – members were told that new devices would simplify the process.
The head of service for highways and transport, Huw Percy, told the meeting, “Its worth noting, in order to achieve these savings, we are expecting people to pay sums of £5 or more in ready money.
“Machines that accept notes don’t seem to work very well at all and have a tendency to cause problems, so realising the programme was wholly reliant on realising new machines with chip and pin and/or phone payment options and capital funding has been found to start this programme.”
Mr Percy added that the authority had studied parking fees in other counties, but it was very difficult to compare due to the variation between different sites.
The authority is already losing income from two council car parks, which are no longer to be operated by Anglesey Council, with number crunchers expecting to lose £52,000 as a result.
This is due to Beaumaris Coach Park being handed over to Beaumaris Town Council as part of the agreement to transfer the Gaol and Courthouse, with the lease also ending at Coed Cyrnol Car Park in Menai Bridge and responsibility for the car park will now revert back to Menai Bridge Town Council.
Responding to the proposals, Cllr Alun Roberts said: “We need to encourage people to come into our town centres, who tend to be local people on the whole.
“With the state of the economy as it is, I’m not favourable towards raising the cost of urban parking but am more agreeable to see price rices in coastal areas as there is more scope there.”
Cllr Robin Williams felt that the current 50p charge for 30 minutes of parking was meaning that many visitors to town centres were rushing, whereas a minimum of a full hour’s charge would be more likely to see them make the most of the full time available to them.
But Cllr Richard Griffiths concluded, “I feel that if someone from Yorkshire, for example, is visiting Anglesey then they won’t be put off by these relatively modest proposals.
“We should be making the most of increasing visitor numbers and feel that we compare quite well with other councils. We need more vision and courage to make the most of this.”
The proposals will be part of the budget setting process which will be finalised when the full council meets on March 10.
By Gareth Williams – Local Democracy Reporter
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