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Preston city centre car parking shake up including free Sundays scrapped

Posted on - 31st January, 2023 - 7:00am | Author - | Posted in - Politics, Preston City Centre, Preston News, Roads, Transport
An empty Guildhall Street in Preston city centre Pic: Tony Worrall
Proposals look to increase the city centre short term pay and display by introducing bays on Guildhall Street Pic: Tony Worrall

Lancashire County Council are seeking the public’s views on the Preston City Centre parking proposals to make the area a safe place to live, work and visit.

The proposals aim to better manage the network, support the flow of people in the city, encourage other forms of active travel and encourage more people to use the city car parks.

In key city centre locations, limited-street parking is available for short stay visits to the centre which attracts high demand by the public.

Due to this, the Council ensures that on-street charges exceed the off-street charges to encourage use of the car parks. There are several city centre car parks including: Preston City Council-run Avenham multistorey, Hill Street, Trinity Square and Penny Street, alongside the County Council bus station car park.

Read more: Temporary traffic lights for two weeks at major Preston junction

Preston Bus Station's car park has now reopened Pic: Tony Worrall
Lancashire County Council is encouraging people to use city centre car parks as on-street parking is more expensive Pic: Tony Worrall

On-street charges are regularly reviewed to achieve traffic management aims. Following the latest review, each tariff band on-street is being increased to maintain the gap over car park charges.

As a result of this review, proposals have been put forward to introduce on-street parking charges on Sundays, because it has become increasingly one of the busiest days of the week in the past few years

It is being proposed to increase the city centre short term pay and display by introducing bays on Garden Street, Winckley Square West and Guildhall Street, along with making the limited waiting on Cross Street and part of Camden Place pay and display to bring it into line with the rest of the city parking offer.

Changes are also being proposed to support residents who live in the city. Residents’ parking permit schemes have been overhauled to protect the existing residents from new builds or property conversions, which can result in hundreds of permits appearing. Residents have also requested that some little used pay and display bays be converted to permit bays, which we are now undertaking.

Read more: Preston crime writer to be interviewed at city’s Waterstones

County Councillor Rupert Swarbrick, cabinet member for highways and transport, Lancashire County Council, said:  “These proposed changes will allow us to manage the road network more effectively and encourage more people to use the cheaper car parks.

“The introduction of on-street parking charges on a Sunday will contribute to this effort and will support the flow of customers in the city on what is often the second busiest day of the week.

“We’ve also listened to the needs of city centre residents and have proposed changes that maintain the delicate balance of permits vs spaces that currently exists.”

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