New Melton car park machines to include contactless card option
New payments machines at Melton Mowbray town centre car parks will have options for paying via contactless cards as well cash and online apps.
A survey was conducted by the borough council back in March and April asking for the opinions of residents on how they would prefer to pay for their parking.
The results of the questionnaire have yet to be published, prompting former leader, Councillor Pip Allnatt, to request an update at the latest full council meeting.
In response, council leader Ronan Browne, said he was pressing ahead with getting the new machines installed and said it was ‘embarrassing’ that one car park recently had no working payment points.
Councillor Browne told the meeting that over 1,000 responses were received in the survey and that the most popular option – machines with contactless card payments app but no cash – was favoured by 38 per cent of respondents.
But he said it had been decided to go with machines equipped with all options – cards, cash and an app – which got a 26 per cent share of the public vote.
He said this was a sensible decision with a such a high proportion of older residents who preferred to use cash rather than technology.
Councillor Browne told the meeting: “I do make a point of actually parking and paying when I’m not on council business.
“I have noticed the amount of times when the car parking machines are broken.
“In Wilton Road last week there was not one machine working.
“We can’t go on like this – it looks embarrassing.
“We just want to get the job done.”
The survey was launched by previous Labour/Independent administration and the outcome was inherited by the Conservative group when it took over control in May. £70,000 has been budgeted for the new machines.
Councillor Browne said council officers are now working on procuring suitable parking machines within the allocated budget and the matter would be referred to the scrutiny committee before machines are installed, as requested by Councillor Allnatt.
He added: “I don’t want to get to a situation in the autumn where machines are down and its costing more money to repair them.”