Cabinet Agrees to Consult on Proposed Parking Changes in Central Milton Keynes

1.11.00pm GMT Mon 26th Jan 2009

Milton Keynes Council's Liberal Democrat cabinet has agreed to proceed with consultation on major proposals which could see more than £3 million a year pumped into bus services across Milton Keynes.

Proposals that will be consulted on include:

• increasing fees on parking bays in the city centre

• introducing 'green parking' permits for residents and city centre workers who use cars with lower emissions

• implementing a discount offer on parking charges for Milton Keynes residents.

The move to increase parking charges more in line with - yet still cheaper than - other places of similar size in the region was among the recommendations in a report by CAGoT (the Citizen's Advisory Group on Transport). This report called for the money raised from increases in parking charges to be reinvested in public transport, and this is now part of the parking strategy for central Milton Keynes that was approved at a cabinet meeting in December.

Liberal Democrat Council Leader, Isobel McCall, has been inundated with letters and e-mails since the plans were initially announced earlier this month - and she has already personally replied to hundreds of people.

Isobel said: "We do accept this is a significant change but it is still a lot cheaper to park in central Milton Keynes than other surrounding places, or towns and cities of a similar size. For years people have been saying that bus services need to improve drastically across Milton Keynes and we believe this gives us a route to do it."

There will be a two-tier approach to implementing the changes:

• The Council will meet with members of the business community and other city centre stakeholders to discuss the increase in standard rate charges from 25p per hour to 35p, premium rate from £1 to £1.20 per hour, and long-stay from £5 to £7 per day

• A wider consultation will take place on proposals to replace free spaces on North and South Rows with a charge of 25p per hour and to introduce standard-rate charging around the Food Hall (the old home of Sainsbury's supermarket).

Implementation of the changes to current 'pay and display' bays is expected to start on 1 April, but any changes to the current free spaces won't be introduced until autumn at the earliest, and these will be subject to widespread consultation.