Amendments to parking charges in Chichester District car parks to be consulted on

The amendments were approved for consultation by Chichester District Council’s Cabinet at its meeting on Tuesday 7 November 2023. Consultation will begin shortly on the proposed charges and if approved, will come into force from 1 April 2024.

“We review parking charges every year,” explains Councillor Harsha Desai, the council’s Cabinet Member for Growth and Place. “Parking charges help to deal with capacity issues in our higher demand car parks and help to cover the costs of providing each car park. These proposals are modest, and will help ensure that our parking charges remain competitive with neighbouring towns.”

The proposals include increasing existing pay and display tariffs by the current rate of inflation – 6.7% with some local variation. Season tickets will also be increased by the same amount.

In Chichester city centre’s long stay car parks, the current Sunday flat rate would be changed to reflect the Monday to Saturday tariff.

The charging period for the city’s short stay car parks would also be extended from 6pm to 8pm while Sunday charging will be introduced to the district council’s rural car parks.

Charges are reviewed regularly and as part of its fees and charges policy, the council is under a duty to increase all charges in line with inflation as a minimum each year.

Proposals are discussed by the Chichester District Parking Forum, which is made up of local businesses, councillors, community groups and other local partners. The wider consultation will begin shortly with notices being placed in the affected car parks.

“Parking charges provide essential income to support other key services provided by the council, and our policy is that car park users should cover the cost of parking provision,” adds Cllr Desai. “Parking charges also help with reducing congestion and encouraging alternative forms of travel. Charges also enable the council to provide improvements and enhancements to the parking service provided, along with helping to provide for parking incentives.

“In the run-up to Christmas we’ll be offering some parking incentives, including freeparking in our Avenue de Chartres car park in Chichester on Sundays during December as well as an offer for customers to buy two hours and get a third free when using the Mipermit app in the majority of the car parks across the district.”

More details Chichester District Council car parks can be found at: www.chichester.gov.uk/carparks