Price changes for Macclesfield carparks goes to consultation
By Alex Greensmith
25th Sep 2023 | Local News
New tariff rates have been proposed for Cheshire East Council owned carparks in Macclesfield.
Fifteen sites across central Macclesfield have new prices proposed to park your car.
The new rates would apply from 8am and 6pm, Monday to Saturday.
It would see increases across the board, for example, parking for 0-1 hours in Park Green currently costs 70p, but under new proposals it could cost £1 for the same time.
Exchange Street, will see a 20p increase for 0-1 hours should the new proposals be approved.
Exchange Street Carpark's current £1.20 rate for 1-2 hours would increase by 40p, under these new plans.
Sunderland Street, which is currently 70p for less than an hour, would go up to a quid. £4.40 currently gets you ten hours at the Sunderland Street Carpark, but under the new tariffs that amount will only get you a 4-6 hour permit now.
However, not every time slot at every carpark will change, for example, it will still cost 60p to park your car at the small Hibel Road site for less than an hour.
And there is even a decrease in some instances, but these are exceptions rather than the norm.
It currently costs £2.40 to park there for 2-3 hours, but under new plans this will be reduced by 10p to £2.30 for the same period of time.
But there's still increases across other times proposed at Churchill Way.
To park there, it currently costs you 80p for less than an hour, but is suggested to become £1.00 for the same parking window.
New quarter and annual rates for almost every Macclesfield carpark are also proposed, with some increases, and some declines.
Free carparks like Broken Cross, Kennedy Avenue and Princes Way appear to remain free for now, as they are exempt from the new charges document.
The proposed new charges can be viewed on this link, or attached as a laminated sheet to many of the aforementioned sites.
Cheshire East Council are consulting the public about these potential new figures to pay.
You have less than five weeks to have your say. Macclesfield is not alone in the proposed changes.
This consultation includes is seeing a large number of parking changes across every town in the borough.
In a statement sent to all media outlets, Cheshire East Council wrote: "Parking charges have only been increased once since Cheshire East was formed in 2009. This is no longer sustainable as the rate of inflation means that the costs of maintaining, managing and operating carparks has significantly increased."
"Parking income can help to support other services in the borough – ranging from highway improvements, subsidised bus services and active travel schemes.
"The council is proposing four key initiatives, which would deliver greater consistency of tariffs and support town centre vitality.
"Parking proposals to be consulted on include: Introduce parking charges in some carparks where parking is currently free, increasing current parking charges by the rate of inflation in some carparks across the borough, reducing parking charges in some carparks due to their location and usage, and changes to the limited waiting bay periods at certain on-street locations."
"The council will assess the likelihood of parked cars being displaced from carparks and will develop options to mitigate these impacts."
The parking proposals do not affect Blue Badge holders in any way.
Councillor Craig Browne, Cheshire East Council deputy leader and chair of the council's highways and transport committee, said: "The inherited legacy where some residents pay to park and others do not has caused a sense of unfairness.
"The council is proposing to address this imbalance – taking into account each town's characteristics – while also responding to the higher costs of maintaining our carparks, which require regular resurfacing, improved lighting and markings and the installation of EV charging points.
"It is important to us that we get as much feedback as possible to these proposals and I hope our residents, and businesses, will take this opportunity to feed into this consultation."
A Cheshire East Council press release added: "The council is set to report financial pressures of £12.8m against its 2023/24 budget. Savings have already been identified to reduce this from £26.6m.
"The outcome of the consultation will be considered by the council's highways and transport committee in January 2024, before any decisions are made.
"You can view the proposals via: https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/parking_consultation.
"You can also view the proposals by contacting your local library by appointment [including Macclesfield Library of Jordangate]. Please do not simply turn up. All contact numbers for local libraries are on the council's website at: www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/libraries/nearest_library/nearest_library.aspx.
"Representations to the proposals must be emailed to: [email protected]."
Once again, proposed charges can be viewed via this link.
And the consultation for carparks in Macclesfield and all applicable Cheshire East towns can be filled in on this link.
For full details of parking finances in Cheshire East, including the parking services annual report, visit: Parking finances (cheshireeast.gov.uk).
The consultation begun at 00:01 on Wednesday 20 September 2023 and finishes at 23:59 on Wednesday 1 November 2023. Representations made by post must be received by the end of Monday 6th November 2023.
See Also: Meet the PT's at Everybody Macclesfield
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