Car park plan may lead to new charges or tax rises

A plan to transfer ownership of free-to-use council car parks in Norfolk could lead to new charges or increases in council tax.

Breckland District Council has been in talks with the town councils in Thetford, Dereham, Swaffham, Watton and Attleborough about the future of its car parks.

Ahead of a shake-up of local government which is expected to see the district council scrapped, it has agreed to transfer the parking sites free of charge, despite them having a market value of almost £2m.

The town councils are considering different ways of covering running costs, including tax increases, parking fees and sponsorship.

Breckland explored introducing parking charges in 2024, warning that operating 30 car parks was costing taxpayers about £450,000 a year.

However, it put its plans on hold after ministers said they wanted to reorganise local government, which would see the existing authorities in Norfolk abolished and replaced by all-purpose unitary authorities.

A report for Breckland's cabinet warned a new unitary body could introduce parking charges "with little local consideration" and that transferring them would mean the towns would have control of the car parks.

On Monday, cabinet members approved the report which said agreements had been reached over 16 car parking sites.

While those are said to have a market value of nearly £2m, almost all of them would be handed over for free, with the town councils becoming responsible for their ongoing costs.

Thetford Town Council wants to take on eight sites including Bury Road, Pike Lane and St Giles.

Councillor Terry Land pointed out that a public consultation found people would "happily" pay more tax to keep the car parks as free-to-use.

Land said that would lead to an increase of "eight to nine pounds a year" for a Band D property, which he felt was "extremely good value".

In Dereham, the council is set to take on the Becclesgate, Cherry Tree and Cowper Road car parks.

It has yet to decide on how to cover running costs, but has not ruled out parking charges.

Town clerk Tony Needham said he and colleagues wanted to run another public consultation about it.

Watton council's vice-chairperson Tina Kiddell said it was "very, very important" to keep parking free to support high street businesses.

She said sponsorship and advertising could be sought to pay for the upkeep of the town's three car parks.

But the council in Attleborough has been split on the one car park it plans to take over. Councillors are due to meet on Monday to discuss the finances of the Queen Square site.

And in Swaffham no agreement has been reached on any of the town's car parks.

The town council had wanted the central Market Place Car Park, but "Breckland said that wasn't an option", explained clerk Helen Carrier.

A spokesman for the Conservative-run Breckland Council said it had not offered all of its car parks as some "are either closely associated with another property or there may be existing regeneration plans where car parking may play a role within those plans".

He added that any sites still belonging to Breckland when local reorganisation takes place will be passed on to the authority which replaces it.

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