Permit costs rise. Pay & Display prices up by over 50%
Hammersmith and Fulham Council have announced a two pronged increase in parking charges. Both Pay and Display prices and parking permit charges are to rise.
Pay and display tickets are to increase by more than 50% with a rise from £1.80 an hour to £2.40 coming into force next month to be followed by a rise to £2.80 next year.
Town centre charges are also rising by a smaller percentage. From November parking in central Fulham, Hammersmith and Shepherd's Bush will rise to £2.80 and then to £2.90 in 2011.
Annual resident parking permits are also to rise from £99 to £119. These charges are then frozen until 2014/5. The cost of a SMART visitor permit is rising to £1.80 per hour from £1.50.
The Council are justifying the rises by saying that the increased charges are needed to bring local rates in line with other neighbouring boroughs. However, the Pay and Display charges start at lower levels in most other nearby local authority areas: Kensington and Chelsea offer hourly rates from 50p, Westminster from £1 and Wandsworth from 70p.
It is expected that the price increases will raise £700,000 in the first year of operation.
Cllr Nicholas Botterill, deputy leader and cabinet member for environment, said: "H&F is small in size but has 170,000 residents and thousands of workers visiting every day. We have the most congested roads in London, with far more vehicles on our roads than we have capacity for. This is one way of trying to improve the smooth flow of traffic and also reduce pollution. Re-evaluating charges in H&F is long-overdue, especially as for the last three years, prices have been frozen. These new prices put us on a par with other inner London boroughs and will mean better roads and parking for all in the long-term."
The council is also carrying out a parking consultation with residents, businesses and community groups in Zone J, which covers Shepherds Bush and White City, asking people what they think of current controls, if they would like match day parking restrictions to be added to the zone and for any other views on parking in the area. Residents in the south of the borough, taking in Fulham, parts of Hammersmith and West Kensington, will be consulted on match-day parking regulations in November.
October 14, 2010