Much media attention has been paid to the proposal by Cornwall Council to dispose of many of its car parks that have, until now, been free to use, and consequently have cost the Council money to maintain rather than generating income. The proposal has been to transfer their ownership to the Corserv group who would then operate them with a charging regime enforced by a private contractor. This story has caused much angst in certain quarters with those who feel that the taxpayer should provide free parking for some motorists.
The Council has now published the formal consultation on its proposed Car Parking Order for 2025 (operative from 1 April 2025). The Order proposes only minor changes from the current regime and charging structure:
• A number of car parks will be removed from the Council's control (see above)
• There will be a reduction to the maximum stay period in Old Bridge Street, Truro (getting rid of the scheme in 2024 whereby instead of a maximum 3 hours stay, a charge of £30 was chargeable for stays of 3-24 hours, essentially meaning that, de facto, the maximum stay that motorists would buy would still be 3 hours)
• Reserved Permit parking will be added to Tolcarne Road, Newquay
• Amendments will be made to the minimum spend for JustPark Wallet (see below)
No increases are proposed in the charges at any of the retained car parks despite the pressing need in the Council to generate more income to mitigate the very severe budget pressures. However, it will be interesting to see if the Council does in 2025 what it did in 2024. It proposed no increases in charges from 2023 in its consulted parking order which was confirmed by the portfolio holder for transport in February 2024. Then, just a couple of weeks later, the Council sneaked out a little-noticed amended order that increased the tariffs by 5% across the board. See car park charge increases. Will they do the same again in February 2025, or will they think “sod it, we will leave the budget gap to the new councillors who will take over after the elections in May 2025”?
The other point of interest is the Just Park Wallet scheme. This scheme allows heavily discounted parking charges for motorists who cotton on to the fact that, by buying a Just Park Wallet credit, they can then enjoy all day parking in most of the Council’s car parks at up to 75% off the normal all day rates, e.g. in Garras Wharf, Truro, an all day parking rate of £2.63 instead of £10.50. When the scheme was first introduced, the minimum credit purchase was £25.00. I pointed out how this meant that even tourists were likely to take advantage of this option because investing £25.00 for unlimited parking for a week would represent a massive saving from paying normal prices each day even if the tourist was only staying in Cornwall for a week. The Council then upped the minimum spend on the Wallet credit to £50. Now, in the new parking order, for some inexplicable reason, the minimum spend will be reduced back to £30. Once again, it will be open to any motorist, resident in Cornwall or a visitor to the county to buy heavily discounted parking. It is little wonder that the Park and Ride in Truro is struggling. Why catch the bus from the outskirts of the city when you can drive into the centre and pay little more to park there, or even less if there are two of you in the car?
Update
13 January 2025
With the Just Park wallet system, there is an expiry date on the credit that can be put on the wallet balance. This has been generous at 2 years from the purchase date. I wondered whether the reduction in the proposed minimum spend might be matched with a reduction in the length of time that the motorist would be given to use up the credit. However, after enquiring of the Council’s Strategic Parking Manager, it has been confirmed to me that the expiry date of any credit purchased will remain at 2 years. This is in stark contrast to the restricted expiry dates that are imposed upon the purchase of bus multi-journey tickets. For example, on the park and ride, 5-day passes expire in 2 months, 20-day passes in 6 months, 60-day passes in one year. This means that unless you use the park and ride at least 1-2 days a week, your pass will expire before you have used all the credits. And the maximum discount you would receive for your investment in the credits would be 32%. With the Just Park Wallet, you could use it in a long-stay, city centre car park only once every 8 weeks and you can benefit from a 75% reduction in the tariff. Or a visitor to Cornwall staying just one or two weeks a year could, for example, buy a £30 credit, use it in a long stay car park 6 days one year and 5 days the following year and save £85 versus paying the full tariff each time that they park. What a bargain!