Decision details

To trial the reduction of charges in three car parks, one in each of the main coastal towns that have tier three charges. The charges will reduce from peak rates to off peak rates, from 1 July through to the 31 October 2024.

1st April to 31st October (peak)

Up to 30 minutes £1.50

Up to 1 hour £3

Up to 2 hours £4.50

Up to 3 hours £6

Up to 4 hours £7.50

Up to 10 hours £15

1st November to 31st March (off peak)

Up to 30 minutes £0.80

Up to 1 hour £1.50

Up to 2 hours £2.30

Up to 3 hours £3.30

Up to 4 hours £5.30

Up to 10 hours £9

The car park affected are:-

Swannery – Weymouth

West Bay Road – West Bay

Charmouth Road – Lyme Regis

To extend the short stay permit in Dorset Council car parks from 2 to 3 hrs. Existing terms and conditions apply.

The Council is trialling a reduction in charges following the concerns raised by local communities and businesses. It will help us to understand the impact that the increase in charges in 2023 has made to occupancy and length of stay in car parks. This increase was introduced during the 2023 budget setting process and implemented on 28 April 2023 as part of the fees and charges increases. It will also help make a case for using charging to drive behaviour, moving users from the town centre car parks to ones further out.

This decision is taken in accordance with the delegated authority for Cabinet Members set out in Article 6 (and its Annex) within Dorset Council’s constitution.

The reason for this not being a key decision is that the financial impact is less than £500k for this financial year and it does not have a significant effect on multiple wards.

Reducing all tier three car parks to off peak prices – the financial implications of this would be beyond what could be covered in the financial year.

Reducing all or some tier three car parks to tier two prices – this would mean a larger change to signs, orders and systems and would not be possible in a timely manner to make an impact on this summer.

Reducing tier three car parks to 2022 prices - this would mean a larger change to signs, orders and systems and would not be possible in a timely manner to make an impact on this summer.

The rationale for the trial is to understand the impact through evidence of occupancy, impact on the highway network in addition to the financial impact set out in the budget implications.

Budget Implications:

Decrease in budget estimated to be £276,259.

The budgetary impact will be mitigated by savings identified elsewhere (£100k lead member allowances) and with the balance made up from income and operational efficiencies across the Place Directorate.

Explanatory update: At the meeting of the Place and Resources Scrutiny Committee on 30 July 2024 members considered an item about the trial reduction in car parking. The committee established that the £100,000 saving identified in this decision notice from removing lead member allowances was incorrect and that the saving was £60,000. An assurance was sought by the committee and provided by officers that the correct figure would be published, hence this explanatory update to the decision notice  

This is an operational decision and is not a fundamental change to budget framework.  The overall council budget will not be impacted. The decision is for a ‘pilot’ rather than a permanent change.