Car parking charges will be simplified in a Surrey town as a broke council shakes up its tariffs. Woking Borough Council is updating its parking fees and permits in an attempt to earn some extra cash. 

In 2023/24 total car park income was £6.2m, mostly from the town centre. Whilst the total car park income increased by around £700k compared to 2022/23, it remains around £ 1m less than pre-Covid pandemic levels resulting in a significant shortfall against the budget.

Agreed by Woking council on February 27, all parking fees and charges should legally have a 21-day notice of variation before introduction. Public consultation may be considered when launching the new charges. 

Frozen since February 2023, new prices and daily tariffs will be coming to four Woking town centre car parks. Victoria Place, Victoria Way, Brewery Road and Heathside will see their bands for day parking simplified from 12 separate tariffs to just six.

“Streamlined tariffs are easier for customers to understand and reduce, for example, the complaints received,” read a council report. 

  • The key changes to the tariff points are: 
  • Hourly rates will increase from £1.80 to £2.20.
  • No change to the full day rate of £15 .
  • Parking for up to three hours will reduce by £1.50 (from £5 to £3.50).
  • Parking for up to six hours will reduce by £0.50 (from £8 to £7.50).
  • Parking for three to 24 hours on a Sunday reduces by £1 (from £4.50 to £3.50).
  • The evening and overnight charge (12 hours parking from 6pm to 6am) is reduced by £0.20 (from £2.20 to £2.00). 

Car parking charges have not changed since February 2023, according to council documents. New fees have been benchmarked against other local authorities. This is compared to the current 2024 charges in the local towns of Guildford (£4 up to three hours), Camberley (£2.60 up to two hours), Bracknell and Basingstoke (£2 up to one hour).

Charges and tariffs in Woodlands Avenue long stay car park are also getting a shake-up. Instead of paying for the number of hours your car is parked, visitors will now pay a blanket rate for the whole day. 

The substitute tariffs coming into force are:

  • Instead of paying for up to four hours (£1.50) or six hours (£3) of parking at a time, on Monday to Friday, visitors will pay outright £4.50 for the whole calendar day. 
  • The addition of weekend charges mean guests will now spend just £2 to stay all day on either Saturday or Sunday

Reasons for the changes involve keeping the car park up and running, well maintained and enough to generate an income, the report stated. The recommended tariff structure enables customers who may be commuting by train to make use of this car park alongside other users, and at a more competitive rate than the adjacent train station car park.

Parking permit and season ticket charges will face the biggest overhaul. But, Woking council has agreed to gradually transition the new prices so those most affected will be least shocked. 

There are currently 65 different permit options grouped under the following main headings: CO2 ratings of vehicles; Resident permits limited to those living within specified town centre areas; Business permits for businesses located within Woking requiring multiple parking permits; Public Service Rate permits for limited public sector partners. 

Parking permit changes include:

  • Streamline the number of permit bands from 65 to 26. 
  • Gradually reducing the maximum discount to 25% for individuals and 40% for resident permits.
  • Business permits have a starting discount of 20% (increasing subject to bulk purchase numbers). The Public Service Rate permit for partners is moved to a 30% discount against the day rate. 
  • Continue to incentivise a lower emission band in the town centre, Woodlands Avenue and Woking Park car parks. Replace previous bands with a Lower CO2 band and a Higher CO2 band. Lower bands offer a 25% discount against the day rate while upper bands offer a 10% discount. 

People renewing blue badge disabled parking will have to now pay £25 towards the admin fee. Nearly £30k could be paid to Woking council this year just processing blue badges, according to council reports. 

Woking council has reviewed the changes and benchmarked its new figures against over 44 other car parking operators, including Surrey authorities, the report states. The revamping comes from the council’s analysis that the level and range of discounts are at “unsustainable levels” and do not currently offer a “fair and equitable rate when all car park users are taken into consideration”. 

Inconsistent levels of discounts, varying from 20- 92 per cent, was flagged as an issue, as well as some of the permits’ prices were frozen for over a decade. “The level and range of discounts (from the day tariff equivalents) are at unsustainable levels. As it stands, they do not offer a fair and equitable rate when all car park users are taken into consideration. 

Council documents state: “A five-year phased implementation is proposed to ease the financial impact on individual customers where increases are significant and to provide new quarterly and monthly payment options to support this.

“A three year phased implementation to ease the financial impact on business customers where increases are less significant.”