Parking charges at four town centre car parks are to be ‘reluctantly’ increased by the maximum allowed, after being waved through by Bracknell Forest Council. 

The rates at the Avenue, High Street, Braccen Walk and Weather Way will all be subject to proportional hourly increases in order to “manage, maintain and enhance” the car parks in light of rising inflation. 

Rates will now go up incrementally, where up to one hour previously cost £1.60 will now be £1.80, up to two hours will increase from £2.80 to £3.20, all the way up to eight hours, which has increased by £1.20 to £10.50. 

The assistant director of contract services and delivery, Damian James, said the council needs to “increase revenue” as suppliers and leaseholders also apply “annual inflationary increases”. 

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Mr James explained how the car parks usage rates are “15 per cent down” on pre-Covid levels, suggesting this is “probably the new norm”. 

Yesterday’s Town Centre Regeneration Committee were given three options regarding the future day rate of off-street car parking charges, which are reviewed annually.  

‘Option 1’ proposed implementing the “maximum permissible increases” to all rates as allowed in the Avenue lease. ‘Option 2’ suggested the increases were limited to £0.10 where permissible. Alternatively, the committee could have opted to make no changes to the current rates. 

The council’s leader, Paul Bettison, said the decision was a “difficult one to call”. He stated that parking charges are, by law, not a fee that the council can make money off, they are “simply covering the costs of the car park.” 

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“We have a situation where the leases we have to pay on the car parks go up by inflation. We have to pass these costs on. 

“If we say the council will subsidise the car park, I’d like to know which library we are going to close to find the money to subsidise [it]. 

He said he would like to freeze prices but “the realities of life” say it can’t be done and supported the higher rate of increase “reluctantly but realistically”.  

The new rates will be roughly in line with neighbouring local authority prices. When parking for two hours, they will be cheaper than the Oracle and Broad Street in Reading, but more expensive than car parks in Basingstoke, Slough and Camberley. 

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Cllr Bettison also took aim at the previous Conservative run Wokingham Council, explaining that due to the administration trying to keep costs down, the new Liberal Democrat administration, “being responsible”, is having to double their charges. 

The committee chair, Cllr Marc Brunell-Walker, said he had initially supported “the zero figure or the lower figure” but suggested residents have come to expect the council to be “responsible when it comes to money”. 

“We must look at ensuring we are [not] providing a loss or a detriment in other service areas by having to cover the costs of this service,” he added. 

Cllr Brunell-Walker said he proposed ‘Option 1’ to the committee with a “sense of reluctance”, which was voted through unanimously.