Changes announced for Melton Mowbray town centre car parks

It will rise from £1.20 to £1.40 for an hour in a short stay car park and the cost of a weekly ticket will increase by £1 to £17.

Cabinet members, at their meeting yesterday (Wednesday) also decided to raise the time drivers can stay in a free parking space in the St Mary’s car park from 20 minutes to 30 minutes.

Two additional free spaces will also be created in this car park to bring it up to a total of nine.

No changes will be made to free off-street parking at Melton Country Park and at Asfordby.

The Council has also offered 20 free long stay parking permits to Melton BID, with a view to supporting local businesses, and is keen to explore the details and eligibility of the scheme with them over the coming weeks.

All changes come in on April 1 and the council says that by the time they take effect, parking charges will have been frozen for five years and that the proposed wider changes represent a below inflation rise since they were last increased.

Councillot Pip Allnatt, leader of the council, said: “We have listened to feedback from our community and made changes which reflect what you have told us.

"Increasing the number of free spaces at St Marys Car Park along with increasing the time people can stay there from 20 minutes to 30 mins will really support our local business by allowing more people to drop into the high street.

"We have been able to hold our prices for the last five years and have done the best we can to keep the rates down; these new rates remain under the current rate of inflation.

"Our offer of free parking permits to local businesses and restricting increase for weekly long stay charges helps everyone.

"Our modest increases will also help us to repair and maintain our car parks.

"There will be no charges to our existing free car parks including in Asfordby.”

The changes do not affect Sunday parking, which will also remain free in all council owned car parks.

Similarly, the reserved parking bays for ‘blue badge’ holders remain unchanged and will continue to not be charged for.

The cabinet agreed to keep the commitment of free Christmas parking in the town centre and four free parking days will remain in place in the council’s long stay car parks.

However, to offer additional support to the local businesses and encourage more people to shop local, these will be adjusted to include some weekend dates.

Instead of four consecutive Fridays these will now be made available on two consecutive Fridays and Saturdays on the run up to Christmas – Friday December 13, Saturday December 14, Friday December 20 and Saturday December 21.

Payment methods will remain the same and people will still be able to use cash or the Pay By Phone app in the council owned car parks.

A number of changes are required to get the car parks ready for April 2025, such as new signage and relining the free parking bays at St Marys Car Park.