CAR PARK CHARGES

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Derby City Council increased fees at the Assembly Rooms and Chapel Street multi-storey car parks by up to 25%. The biggest rise comes at the 524-space Chapel Street car park, where people will have to pay £5 to park for more than four hours, an increase of £1. Charges differ at both sites, which are pay-and-display at the moment, but they will rise by 10p for one hour, 20p for between one and two hours and 30p for up to three hours. At the 214-space Assembly Rooms car park, motorists are limited currently to parking for a maximum of four hours. Motorists will be able to park for longer but will have to pay £5.50 to park for up to five hours, £7 for up to six hours and £8.50 for more than six hours.

The pay-and-display machines at both car parks will be replaced with barriers and two payment stations. Council spokeswoman Carol Mee said that a rise was due in November 2003 when charges at other council-run car parks went up but the authority decided to wait until improvements had been made to the Assembly Rooms car park, including better lighting and CCTV cameras. These improvements came after Derbyshire police announced in November 2002 that the car park was the worst motor crime hotspot in the city and figures revealed 56 thefts from cars had taken place there during that year.

These improvements have cost £200,000 for both car parks and have been funded by a Government grant allocated through the Derby Joint Local Transport Plan. Councillor Lucy Care, Cabinet Member for Planning, Transportation and Environment, said, “This new system will stop people having to worry that they won’t get back to their car before their parking time runs out if they are held up in town. And, of course, these car parks will now be more secure.”

Theatre-goers were forced to queue for up to an hour before they could use a pay machine at Derby's Assembly Rooms car park. Derby City Council claimed it was taking steps to ensure that there will not be a repeat of the incident. David Gartside, the council's head of traffic, said the chaos was caused because one payment machine was out of order and the other machine was having problems accepting notes and some coins. The short-sighted council obviously thought two pay machines would be ample but will have to install more if they wish people to continue to frequent the Assembly Rooms. Of course, people could always use public transport - if there was any!

Derby City Council plans to increase parking prices by between 20p and £1 an hour for certain charges in 10 different car parks. The move comes following a review of charges for parking, which was carried out in the autumn. Motorists will see the biggest increases at the Parksafe car park in Bold Lane as charges are rising for all lengths of stay. Currently parking for an hour costs £1, but this is set to rise to £1.20, while the charge for parking for four to five hours will rise from £5.50 to £6.50. The evening charges are being increased including £1.20 to £1.50 for up to two hours and £4 to £4.50 for over four hours.

There will also be increases for motorists who park in Ford Street, Little City, Liversage Street, Siddals Road, Sacheveral Street, and Wilmot Street for between four and six hours. Currently motorists pay £4.50 to park for four to five hours and this is going to rise to £5, while parking for five to six hours will rise from £6.50 to £7. There will be rises for car parking in Abbey Street, Darwin Place, and Drewry Lane for drivers parking for over four hours, from £4 to £4.50. The council don't know how much money was generated through car parking charges last year. The new charges are expected to increase the income by 3%.

Lucy Care, cabinet member for planning, transportation and environment, said, "It is mainly only the long-stay charges that are increasing, so these increases won't affect shoppers. The increase in longer stay might encourage motorists to use other methods of transport or car share." (The people who work in the shops can walk to and from work). Conservative Philip Hickson, council deputy leader, has regularly slammed parking charge increases but said, "These are not new charges, they are part on a review to ensure that they are in line with inflation." Another change of mind by a councillor.

Visitors to Derby's Assembly Rooms have started leaving performances 10 minutes early in order to avoid the large queue for the car park pay machine. Some have to queue for 50 minutes to pay for car parking because there are only two pay machines and one of them is usually broken. The problems with the car park began when Derby City Council introduced a new parking payment system to "improve" convenience and security. After three months, people visiting evening shows believe the new system remains flawed.

David Gartside, the council's head of traffic, said, "There are always going to be queues and we believe that 15 to 20 minutes is acceptable after a performance at the Assembly Rooms. We're definitely not going back to the old system, but we are considering introducing a single evening tariff." But that would mean admitting defeat, wouldn't it? Council leader Maurice Burgess added, "There have been a number of complaints about this. It's a crazy situation and it has to be sorted out." Well quite, but who's authority is it Mr Burgess? And why has nothing been done in three months to rectify the problem?

Car parking charges at Markeaton Park are to rise by up to 20%, from £1 to £1.20 for four hours. The charge of £1.70 for over four hours will increase to £1.90. This is the second year in a row that car-parking charges at Markeaton Park have increased, having risen by 20p to £1 and by 30p to £1.70 last year. Visitors to Allestree Park and Darley Park, in Derby, do not have to pay to park. Alan Graves, Derby City Council cabinet member for culture, leisure and direct services, said, "I've had some complaints about the state of the car park and one of the ways to address that was through a rise in the charges. That will allow me to authorise resurfacing work to the car park. It's estimated that it will cost in the region of £50,000."

Mr Graves said that he did not know how much income the council gained from current charges at the park but he did say that the money was used to maintain all parks in the city. He said that he believed that the difference was that Markeaton was used by people from all over the county rather than just the city. As a result, he said, it was important that council taxpayers from outside the area paid towards its maintenance. A spokeswoman for the city council said that the authority was also looking at the charges at other city-centre car parks which it runs. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Mar/07)