Hospital bosses say they must solve congestion at the hospital

Staff at the hospital will to pay up to �100 a year to park at the hospital at Bodelwyddan.

Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor already operates a parking charging scheme while Wrexham Maelor Hospital is to introduce one in the autumn.

Conwy and Denbighshire NHS Trust said the scheme aimed to reduce pressure on parking at the site.

Operator Vinci Park Services will run the parking scheme, which will be introduced at the end of September.

Patients and visitors would have to pay �1 for an hour's parking under a sliding scale of charges and �5 for six hours.

However, the trust says disabled badge holders will be exempt from charging and a range of other exemptions and dispensations will be publicised later.

Significant impact

Staff based at the hospital will pay a �100 annual fee with a 50% reduction for those earning less than �15,000 a year.

The health trust said parking problems had escalated over recent years, due to more patients using the hospital.

Up to 2,000 patients a day pass through hospital and the demand for parking currently exceeds the spaces available.

Members of the health trust were told at their meeting at Ruthin that it was recognised that the introduction for charging would not be welcomed.

But a report said it was unlikely that any significant impact on the hospital's current problems would be achieved without their introduction.

The trust said the parking charges and enforcement will be phased in, with the car park operator at first issuing warning notices to those who do not pay.

Wrexham Maelor Hospital also plans to introduce parking charges later this autumn, according to a spokesman for the hospital.