Changes planned for car parking charges in Bury St Edmunds

The feedback from town centre visitors and businesses could see two changes to Bury St Edmunds car parks come into effect from July 15.

West Suffolk Council is looking to bring in a new four-hour tariff for the Arc short stay car park.

It follows requests by Our Bury St Edmunds, which represents over 400 town centre businesses, and other business representatives for people to be allowed to stay longer.

The existing tariffs of £3 for two hours and £4 for three hours will remain as they are while a new tariff of £6 for four hours would be introduced.

And a separate evening charge in Bury St Edmunds town centre car parks could also be scrapped.

Currently if someone parks in a short stay car park but wants to stay beyond 6pm, they pay the length of stay up to 6pm and then have to add another £1 on top to cover the evening. That evening charge applied to anyone parking at any time between 6pm and 8am the next day.

The feedback from visitors suggested this needed to be simpler for car park users.

Under the proposed changes, the separate evening charge would be scrapped. The daytime charge will run on Monday to Saturdays until 8pm after which, there will be no charge. Daytime charges will continue to run until 4pm on Sundays.

In terms of Free from 3, this will continue in our short stay car parks and will effectively mean any town centre visitors get free parking from 3pm to 8pm (and beyond) every Tuesday.

A six-week consultation on the changes to the Traffic Regulation Order over the two proposals will run until Friday, June 21. Subject to the outcome of that consultation, the changes would come into effect from July 15, 2024.

David Taylor, cabinet member for Operations at West Suffolk Council, said: “We have listened to the feedback from town centre visitors about making the evening charges simpler to use. And we have listened to the calls made on behalf of the business community by Our Bury St Edmunds and others about giving people more choice to stay longer in the arc car park.

“It is important that we manage our car parks to maintain the balance of short and long stay spaces which are so vital to supporting the town centre, including the evening economy.

“I am delighted that these changes will allow us to continue to manage that balance while also responding positively both to the increase in the number of people using our car parks and to the discussions and feedback that we have had from visitors and town centre business leaders. We will now await the outcome on consultation to see if there’s anything else people feel we need to take into consideration before these changes can be made.”

Mark Cordell, chief executive of Our Bury St Edmunds Business Improvement District, said: “Our town centre has a great offer from big retailers to small independents and a fantastic mix of cafes, restaurants, pubs and attractions including cinemas, the Theatre Royal, Moyse’s Hall Museum, the Apex, the market, the Abbey Gardens and more. That’s why we are delighted with both of these changes. It will give shoppers parking at the Arc more choice to pay to stay longer, supporting even more of our town centre businesses.

“And the changes to the evening charge across the town centre car parks will make them simpler to use which can only be encouraging for people who want to shop and then go for a meal and an evening out in the town.”

Anyone wanting to support or object to the Traffic Regulation Order changes can write in, giving their reasons,  to West Suffolk Council, Admin Office Level 6, Parkway Multi-Storey Car Park, Parkway, Bury St Edmunds IP33 3BA or by emailing parking@westsuffolk.gov.uk