IT will cost more to use Shropshire Council car parks from Monday.

Under the plans – approved by the council’s Cabinet in July 2022 following a public consultation, the majority of charges in Shropshire Council-run car parks are set to rise by between 10p and 20p per hour, with many car parks remaining free of charge.

The planned fees were approved by Cabinet and full Council in February 2022 as part of the proposed fees and charges to be applied by Shropshire Council in 2022/23. The required statutory consultation has now been completed, with eight objections received.

There are seven bands of car parks and on-street parking areas managed by Shropshire Council, with bands 1 to 6 currently being chargeable, and band 7 being free.

The highest Band 6 charge will be £2.80 per hour with the lowest, Band 1, 40p an hour.

“Due to an increase in the rate of inflation and the cost of managing and maintaining our car parks and on-street parking areas, there will be small increases to some of our parking charges," said Richard Marshall, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for highways and regulatory services.

“We do appreciate that people are facing financial pressures at the moment, and we have sought to reduce the increases as much as possible. However, to not increase charges at all would mean having to cut other essential services that the council provides.

“This will be the first increase in parking charges since the existing fees were introduced more than three years ago, and many other councils have raised charges annually in the same time period.

“The current charges were introduced between November 2018 and February 2019.

"In that time inflation has risen significantly, as have operational costs, but the council is receiving the same level of parking income and can no longer continue to subsidise the maintenance and operation of car parks from other budgets.

“However, even with these changes, many car parks will continue to be free, and many will cost just 40p an hour. And even with a small increase, our prices will continue to compare favourably with many other parts of the country.”