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Agenda item

Car Parking Strategy

Purpose

To present Cotswold District Council’s Parking Strategy for 2025–2028 which outlines the approach to managing and delivering off-street parking services over the next three years. It is designed to meet user needs while supporting the council’s strategic objectives through to 2028.

 

Cabinet Member

Councillor Paul Hodgkinson

 

Lead Officer

Susan Hughes

 

 

Minutes:

The purpose of the report was to presentCotswold District Council’s Parking Strategy for 2025–2028 which outlined the approach to managing and delivering off-street parking services over the next three years. It was designed to meet user needs while supporting the Council’s strategic objectives through to 2028.

 

The report was introduced by Councillor Paul Hodgkinson, Cabinet Member for Health, Culture and Visitor Experience, and Susan Hughes, Business Manager for Support and Advice who made the following points:

  • The Car Parking Strategy would guide how the Council would manage its off-street parking estate for the period 2025 to 2028.
  • The Cotswold District managed 20 off-street car parks with a total of 2,279 spaces and 24 EV charging points.
  • Stay times and parking turnover had been reviewed to ensure that short-stay spaces were available. Long-stay provision had been assessed to ensure that the needs of both workers and tourists were properly accommodated.
  • The charging period at Rissington Road, Bourton on the Water car park was being reviewed, with a proposal to move it to 10:00am–8:00pm. This would allow residents free parking earlier in the day before tourists arrived and would capture income from visitors staying later into the evening.
  • Parking machine technology would be upgraded across the District, supported by £40,000 of allocated capital funding.
  • The tourism levy would be extended to include Stow-on-the-Wold.

 

In questioning and discussion, the following points were noted:

 

Members raised concerns about the inability to pay for parking with cash if machines failed. The Officer explained that customers could call a number to pay but attempts to allow payment via local shops were unreliable and impractical due to distance and potential queues. There were no plans to reintroduce cash payments.

 

Analysis of parking in Tetbury and Cirencester showed there was overall capacity across sites, though central car parks were often oversubscribed. The Transport and Connectivity Plan emphasised active travel.

 

The Whiteway Car Park break clause was set for 2028, coinciding with the abolition of the current Council. Efforts had been made to boost season ticket sales by reducing prices, but feedback indicated that people were unwilling to walk the longer distance.

 

In discussing the increase of the tourism levy, it was noted that Stow-on-the-Wold had seen a significant increase in tourist numbers. Whilst there was no direct administrative cost for the levy, there was a hidden cost to the Council in that VAT must be accounted for, and fees collected must be reconciled against the amounts available to spend.

 

Whilst the promotion of bikes, including e-bikes, was welcomed, some bike racks remained unused. This may be due to their locations being outside town centres, often in other car parks, rather than in central areas.

 

A member raised a question about the Moreton-in-Marsh Transport Hub and car parking proposals, referring to a 2018–2019 Church of England plan to provide 150–250 spaces on a site, funded by the Church with support from the Business Association and GWR. The Member asked whether officers could explore alternative ways to implement the proposal using different land as a cost-effective solution to the town’s parking crisis. The Cabinet Member explained that the Council’s strategy was based on the fact that it believed that there would be a transport hub that would provide 50 plus parking spaces.  The Cabinet Member offered the Member further discussion outside this meeting on different parking options for Moreton-in-the-Marsh.

 

A full complement of parking enforcement staff (two full-time and one part-time) was in place and operating across all seven days of the week.

 

The Cabinet Member emphasised the importance of maintaining Council assets. Many sites had already been resurfaced, and a schedule was in place to address those still requiring work.

 

Break 17:55 – 18:05

Supporting documents:

 

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