Southampton parking charge increase 'an assault on drivers'

Southampton City Council unveiled proposals to introduce new tariffs for off-street and on-street parking on Friday.

In the council’s words, the move will ‘simplify’ parking within the city centre, despite making it more costly for motorists.

The proposals have attracted backlash from some as people fear businesses will be impacted.

'Financial mismanagement' 

Jeremy Moulton, deputy leader of the Conservative group, described the move as "an assault" on car drivers.

He said: “Labour's parking charges hike is bad news for residents and businesses and is just the latest in their ongoing assault on car drivers.

“Not content with reversing the free evening parking brought in by the Conservatives, Labour is now increasing the charges.

“They are also scrapping the free 10 minutes parking brought in by the Conservatives and hiking up short stay parking.

“This is particularly bad news for small independent shops which benefit from people popping in.

“Labour's financial mismanagement has brought the council to the brink of bankruptcy and residents are continuing to bear the costs of this with Labour's increased taxes and charges.”

'Make Southampton pleasant' 

The new tariffs will be in place between 8am and 8pm for on-street parking and 8am and midnight for off-street.

This means it will no longer be cheaper to park between 6pm and 8pm.

In some cases, the prices would jump by 60p.

READ MORE: Council bid to claw back £1.5m from unpaid parking fines

One of the key reasons for the proposals is to manage parking demand during periods that are "not covered" by the charging hours.

Improving air quality by encouraging drivers to "consider alternative means of transport" is another reason.

Lyn Brayshaw of Southampton Street Space said the increased parking charges will encourage people to ditch their cars.

Lyn Brayshaw (Image: Newsquest)

She said: “Along with cheaper bus tickets and improvements to Southampton cycle network and the walking environment, we do need to encourage people not to be driving.

“Anything we can do to make Southampton a more pleasant and healthy environment is great.

“We need to encourage more people that they don’t need to be driving into the city centre.

“There are healthier alternatives. People didn’t use to drive short distances.”

'An attractive destination'

Councillor Keogh, cabinet member for environment and transport, said the decision to increase charges was "not taken lightly".

He said: “Our tariffs need to be more reflective of other similar local authorities, but we believe we have maintained a competitive offer to ensure Southampton city centre remains an attractive destination for visitors.

“City centre residents will still have access to reduced priced season tickets, while night-time economy workers can make use of the overnight season ticket, priced at £150 per year.

“The council needs to cover the increasing costs of providing parking services and any surplus on street revenue will be used for transport, highways and parking projects, including repair of potholes.”

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Season ticket prices for city centre parking will not be increased at this time but may be subject to review in due course.

Pay tariffs in the city centre have not been increased for 10 years.

A consultation for these changes opened today and residents can visit https://transport.southampton.gov.uk/tro-consultations/city-centre-on-off-street-tariff-changes/ to have their say.