Cashless parking system to go live at country park

Parking charges are set to return to a country park in Leicestershire next week.

A review was launched into parking provision at Watermead Park in Birstall following vandalism over Easter 2024, with the decision taken to introduce automatic number plate recognition.

While the hardware has been in place for months, delays to cable connections have prevented the system from going live.

It was announced on Monday that the cashless payment system would be introduced this week - and the BBC understands this was due to happen on Wednesday but has since been delayedto Monday at 07:00 GMT, Leicestershire County Council said.

The county council has confirmed charges will start at £2 for one hour and the system will be card only.

Visitors will have their vehicle registration plate read on arrival and as they go to leave, the charge will be calculated and contactless payment requested.

A council spokesman said: "We've lowered the one-hour parking charge to £2 [from £2.50] to bring it in line with our other major country parks, including Beacon Hill, Market Bosworth and Bosworth Battlefield.

"Watermead's isolated location has seen thieves attempting to steal cash from a previous car park machine in the car park.

"This caused significant repair costs, and the risk of this happening again has led us moving to card only payment."

Parking will cost £2 for one hour, £3.50 for two hours, £4.50 for three hours and £5 for the whole day.

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