Colchester have frozen their car parking prices. It's a place I (unfortunately) have to visit quite often but at least I won't have to pay so much to do so.

http://www.eadt.co.uk/content/eadt/news/story.aspx?brand=EADOnline&category=News&tBrand=EADOnline&tCategory=xDefault&itemid=IPED19%20Jan%202010%2023%3A55%3A51%3A937

Any chance of our councils following this example?

No but do we really want them to?

With the current bunch and attitude, NONE, even if the people and businesses wanted it, remember this is the group who charge for parking EVERY WHERE on a sunday morning. and would rather spend their budgets, employ more officials than reduce expendure. ( after all if its in the budget and if you dont spend it, you will get less next year, get real).

Cheaper parking not a chance It goes up every year by about 10p. Lots of fiddly change...why not make it round numbers...fiddling around for £1.80 etc

So parking within walking distance of the town centre costs £1.80 - half the price of a pint of beer. Try parking within walking distance of the city centre in Cambrige or Norwich and it will cost you an arm and a leg.

The parking costs should be sufficient to pay for the upkeep and administration of the car parks - but they are currently being used as a revenue earner.

Maybe the the council should privatise the running of the car parks to help reduce council staff - wonder what would happen to the car parking charges then?

Cambridge and Norwich are Cities, not towns, they have a lot more to offer. Besides, Southwold has free parking, and Lavenham if I recall correctly. Besides, as soon as you start charging for car parks your costs are going to increase dramatically, machines, people to empty machines etc.

Seeing how parking in Bury is generally rubbish anyway, it would be nice if the council fired 3 or 4 useless staff members and made the car parking free.

I enjoy council bashing as much as the next person but free car parking doesn't make any sense. If parking was free in Bury all the spaces nearest the town centre would be filled up with office workers, shop staff and businessmen by 9am and they'd stay there all day. There would be no turnover of the nearest spaces which are the ones needed for shoppers.

...or just put a maximum stay of 2 hours on them...

Cambridge and Norwich are Cities, not towns

- Thanks Aug – I didn’t realise that – duh!

Are you seriously comparing the car parking requirements of Bury with those of Lavenham or Southwold?

I certainly think the parking situation in Bury is closer to that of Cambridge and Norwich than it is to Lavenham or Southwold. Bury has to cater for a major retail centre, twice weekly markets, numerous employers/employees, regional college, schools, theatre, multi-screen cinema, municipal gardens, restaurants, dentists, opticians and many other facilities that neither Lavenham or Southwold have to consider.

If the council do not charge for parking then the costs for their upkeep will be passed on to businesses and residents in Bury through higher taxes.

Worse still, maybe the council could decide to sell off the sites for further retail/housing developments and open a park and ride site(s) on the outskirts of town.

"If the council do not charge for parking then the costs for their upkeep will be passed on to businesses and residents in Bury through higher taxes".

Not quite the only solution Indy, Cutting Council expendure on salaries, pensions and over heads could quite easily fund a reduced parking charge ( see my earlier post). I think we need a Park and Ride facility ( but this should be a seperate topic). there are a number of possibilities giving local traders and rate payers a day rate, and vistors a hourly rate for instance, continually putting up the cost of parking just encourages visitors to park on local streets, the same streets that those of us that live in the town have to pay to park outside our own homes, the same streets where the council have sold more permits than there are parking places, the same streets that DO NOT have any traffic wardens, or parking persons, ie NO enforcement ( and no its not a job for the over streched under resourced police). This from a council that continues to approve new home builds in the town with NO or maybe one parking place per home, when the average ownership is closer to two cars per household. Some joined up thinking would be nice rather than oh none of us live in the town, and we have free parking at our offices up western way, and a free bus service, lets put up car parking charges.
To add insult to injury the revenues and costs associated to car parking are never published. that suggests they are a profit centre.