APPROVED: 26 weeks of free Saturday parking in spring and summer
Following a successful trial run prior to Christmas, when free parking was provided for four Saturdays, last night’s full council meeting backed, by a majority, a £6,000 budget to cover the cost of the initiative for Church Street Car Park from April-September.
At last night’s meeting, Town Clerk, Richard Williams, explained that the money could be found from savings made in other areas of the budget this year.
Councillors hope that it will boost town centre trade despite Welshpool already offering scores of free car parking for two-and-a-half hours at Tesco, Morrisons and Aldi.
However, he pointed out that they would need to liaise with Powys County Council, who manage the car parks, to ensure that correct signage is put in place and for permission to cover-up the parking meters on a Saturday.
“We were not allowed to put anything on the machines before Christmas so some people still paid because they weren’t aware it was free,” he said.
The £6,000 (excluding VAT) is paid to Powys to compensate for their loss of revenue, but with similar initiatives going ahead this summer in Brecon and Newtown, Cllr David France said that Welshpool should unite with the other two towns to approach the county council for support.
A Powys County Council review into parking in 2023 identified that Church Street had 230 spaces and the average Saturday peak occupancy was just 25% (54 vehicles). The peak occupancy for April 2022 to March 2023 was 77% (164 vehicles) and the car park took in £75,083 in revenue in that year.
The review found that Church Street was in the lowest-occupancy quartile of all paid car parks in Powys and showed “substantial unused capacity”.
Meanwhile, Newtown Town Council has approved a three-month trial at the town’s Gravel Car Park. The local authority there agreed the pilot scheme at its last full meeting, with free parking in place every Saturday throughout July, August and September.
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