Bury St Edmunds residents hit with on-street parking charge increase
Parking charges are going up today.
For the first time in seven years, the West Suffolk council will be increasing on-street parking charges in Bury St Edmunds today.
The locations that will see the higher price include Angel Hill, Cornhill and Buttermarket, South Town Centre and Springfield Road.
From today, it will cost £2 to park for 30 minutes on Angel Hill or Cornhill and Buttermarket.
Previously the charges ranged from £1.50-£3.50 and will now increase to £2-£4.
Cornhill and Buttermarket charges ranged from £1.50-£2.20 and will now advance to £2-£2.70.
West Suffolk Council spokesperson said: “There are 344 on-street bays in the town, and our strategy is to set them at a higher tariff to prevent the majority of motorists from driving around looking for spaces, which can cause increased congestion and pollution in our town centre.
“Instead, we encourage most of our town centre visitors who have travelled in by car to use our car parks. These offer more availability of spaces with 3760 parking bays in Bury St Edmunds, while our car park tariffs are also set at a cheaper rate than to on-street where the driver will naturally pay extra for the convenience of being a bit closer to the shops and other businesses.”
According to the Council, the increased parking charges will help manage parking demand and capacity. Another reason was to maintain the differential between on-street and off-street costs to encourage the use of off-street car parks to reduce congestion and pollution in the town centre.