Parking meters plan for Coventry city centre

[dutchman]

Parking meters look set to be introduced in Coventry city centre under new plans.

Coventry City Council leaders deny it is a revenue-raising exercise to balance the books.

Instead, they say want to encourage more people into the recession-hit city centre.

Many double yellow lines within the ring road will be replaced with far more parking bays controlled by state-of-the-art solar-powered parking meters.

The first half an hour’s parking will cost 50p, with a £1 charge for up to an hour, and £2 for up to two hours.

In some areas, mainly around Coventry University, motorists will be able to pay for up to four hours, costing £4.

Streets getting new on-street parking when the entire scheme is introduced in October include Queen Victoria Road, St Johns Street, New Union Street, Warwick Road, Much Park Street and Cox Street.

Labour councillor Lindsley Harvard, city services cabinet member, said: ‘‘By creating additional and simply priced on-street parking I think we will be providing a new and convenient option for people who want to pop into town – do a quick errand and pop home again.

“We will be setting the charges very carefully too – to make sure that on-street and off-street parking complement each other – giving visitors and shoppers more choice according to how long they will be in town.

“By making the on-street parking free after 6pm we are also showing our commitment to supporting the evening economy and I hope – based on the convenience of being able to park close to restaurants and the theatre, for example, free of charge – that more people will enjoy a trip to the city centre in the evening.”

The scheme is set go before Coun Harvard’s cabinet meeting on June 12.

The council says it would create an extra 180 new spaces – taking the total to more than 400 on-street spaces across the city centre.

An extra 31 free disabled parking bays will also be created.

Colin Knight, the council’s assistant director of highways, said the proposed charges had been benchmarked against comparable cities, and said nobody now expected to visit cities and get free on-street parking.

He said the scheme had the potential to raise £250,000 income over five years, which would see the council break-even, with a £250,000 cost for more than 40 parking bay machines.

He said any extra income had to be off-set against a potential loss of revenue from parking fines, from motorists over-extending the current two-hours’ free parking, and any unexpected loss of use of the car parks.

He said successive governments had required councils not to use parking charges to balance the books by transferring revenue to general council coffers.

He said any revenue would remain within the traffic management and parking budget.

Motorists will be able to use debit and credit cards at the on street machines.

A public consultation will begin in the summer.