A review of the impact of changes to parking charges in the Dorset Council area has been presented to Dorset councillors.
The changes, introduced in 2022, standardised the council’s on-street and car park charges in rural locations, shopping destinations and tourist areas. On-street parking charges were aligned, and two new car park permits introduced to give residents and workers in Dorset a parking option that provided value for money.
Members of the council’s Place and Resources Scrutiny met on 26 January to receive an update on progress and the customer transformation project.
Parking use has been monitored since the implementation of the new charges. The number of customers parking does not appear to have reduced.
Income from car parking is invested back into the running of the council’s parking service, and the maintenance of the car parks and on-street parking places. Any surplus is spent on highway improvements and public transport.
Pay and display machines
Councillors were also updated on the replacement of pay and display machines, to improve reliability and provide a better service for residents and visitors:
- Since June, nineteen new machines have been installed across the council’s car parks.
- Seventy more machines will be ready for installation by the summer.
- We will be replacing all remaining machines by early 2024.
The new machines accept cash, contactless bank cards and Apple/Google Pay. An online parking payment app will still be available. The cost of the replacement pay and display machines is £1.4million.
Further improvements
Following customer feedback, further changes are being made to parking. These include:
- Simplifying the application process for permits, and a new physical permit offered to customers who do not have access to a mobile or smart phone.
- A new multiday ticket is to be introduced following feedback from holidaymakers and accommodation businesses.
- Dedicated areas installed at Portland and West Bay for long (6 metre-plus) motorhomes, with plans in place to provide motorhome parking in Dorchester and Weymouth too.
- Increasing maximum stay limits in all Dorset Council car parks to 3 or 4 hours. This followed feedback from customers who told us they had insufficient time for some activities.
Routine maintenance is underway in all the car parks. This includes lighting and repairs, and an inspection of vegetation, trees and car park surfaces.
Work has also started on improving parking enquiry response times, enabling the council’s customer services team to deal with non-complex queries while the parking services team can answer questions that need more specialist knowledge, such as legislation. The council’s website is also being developed to make it easier for customers to self-serve.
Cllr Ray Bryan, Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment, said: “Our aim was to standardise parking charges across our car parks and on-street that worked for as many people as possible. We wanted the new changes to strike a balance between supporting our town centres and high streets, as well as ensuring charging could sustain our car parks and highways.
“During the process, it came to light some aspects did not work properly, so we have listened to the concerns of residents and businesses and made further changes. As part of our ongoing focus on improving the parking service for customers, we will continue to make the process better for customers”.
The changes, introduced in 2022, standardised the council’s on-street and car park charges in rural locations, shopping destinations and tourist areas. On-street parking charges were aligned, and two new car park permits introduced to give residents and workers in Dorset a parking option that provided value for money.
When Dorset Council was formed in 2019, it inherited many different parking charges, so the changes brought consistency across the area.
The council worked with residents, town and parish councils, and community and businesses organisations to ensure the views of local people were considered when making the changes.
Before setting the new parking charges, the council compared parking charges in neighbouring authorities and other similar locations. This included looking at prices in the BCP area, as well as in visitor destinations like Torquay and Weston-Super-Mare.
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