Charges will be introduced in two Fishponds car parks

DRIVERS will have to start paying to park in two Fishponds car parks after the city council voted to introduce charges – just three months after rejecting them.

Councillors on the transport and connectivity policy committee voted 7-2 to introduce pay and display charges at Beechwood Road, Stoke View Road and eight other suburban car parks on December 5.

The first hour of parking will still be free but motorists will be charged £1.50 for two hours, £3 for three and £4.50 for four.

There will be reserved bays for health centres, at £5 per permit.

U-turn

The vote in favour came after Nicholas Coombes (Lib Dem, Westbury-on-Trym & Henleaze) got cross-party support for an amendment to make one-hour free parking available from ticket machines.

Officers had recommended the hour of free parking should only be available on the RingGo app, raising concerns motorists could take multiple tickets to flout the time limit and also write abuse on them.

In September councillors had voted down proposals for a £1 an hour charge at a meeting of the same committee.

The charges were initially proposed by the former Labour administration in February but were deferred by a year, in a deal with the Conservatives to approve the annual budget.

They were passed in December despite more than 140 objections relating to a single car park, Westbury Hill in Westbury-on-Trym, which serves a GP surgery, two churches and many community groups, along with local shops.

‘Slap in the face’ for shops and businesses

Former Westbury-on-Trym ward councillor and Tory candidate for West of England metro mayor Steve Smith told the meeting: “This is simple – you’ve already made this decision.

“At your September meeting you rejected this proposal, including the free hour.

“There is no reason not to reject it again.

“It would be a slap in the face to hard-working people running small businesses and independent shops to pass this measure now having already rejected it three months ago.”

Churchgoers also objected to parking fees being introduced on Sundays. 

The Beechwood Road car park serves the nearby Fishponds Road shops, two surgeries at the Fishponds Medical Centre next door and the Beechwood Club.

Stoke View Road, behind Fishponds Road on the opposite side of the road to Lodge Causeway, is close to shops, a mosque and McDonald’s.

Other car parks affected by the charges are Callington Road and Repton Road in Brislington; Chalks Road and Derby Street in St George; Ducie Road in Lawrence Hill; Machin Road in Henbury and Waverley Road in Shirehampton.

‘If we don’t do this, we have to find the money from somewhere else’

Council director of management of place Patsy Mellor said: “We do know it’s controversial.

“Unfortunately the decision was made to charge in these car parks [at cabinet] and the reason it has to come back is that we have got to maintain these car parks and the budget has already been removed, so if we don’t do this we have to find the money from somewhere else.”

In a separate decision, the committee voted 8-1 to withdraw free 30-minute parking in residents’ parking zones from ticket machines and make them available only from RingGo, because of motorists’ “abuse” of the scheme.

By Adam Postans, Local Democracy Reporting Service