On-street parking meters and restricted parking zone
Friday 26 October 2012
Work has started to introduce metered on-street parking in the city centre.
There will be over 450 on-street spaces - that's around 200 more than there are currently in the city centre. There will also be more free disabled parking bays - up from 12 spaces to 47. Bays will be clearly marked with charges set at 50p for 30 minutes, £1 for one hour and £2 for two hours. It will also be free to park after 6pm to help promote the night time economy in the city centre.
The city centre restricted parking zone will also be introduced over the next few weeks. This means all of the double yellow lines will be removed in the city centre - but it will still be illegal to park anywhere other than in the marked bays. Providing this restricted parking zone within the ring road means all of the unnecessary signs and road markings will be removed - making the whole city centre look better.
Loading and unloading for shops and local businesses will be permitted throughout the city centre, providing vehicles are not causing an obstruction or parked on pavements.
Councillor Lindsley Harvard, Cabinet Member for City Services, said: "This work is the next important stage in the transformation of the city centre to complement the 20mph zone and work alongside features such as widened pavements, narrowed carriageways and around 15 new zebra crossings. They will help to complete the plans to make the city centre a low-speed, pedestrian-friendly and more pleasant environment for all.
"The new on street parking is designed for short stay visits, to encourage greater turnover of parking, allowing people to pop in to town to make quick purchases. Those wishing to stay longer will still be able to use short or long stay car parks. Of course it will also mean that it is easier for us to tackle any illegal parking - either in the new bays or in other areas of the city centre which in turn will mean we can keep traffic moving. It will be free to park in the bays after 6pm - which I hope will support the evening economy.
"The main thing people need to remember is that although there will not be any yellow lines in the city centre it will still be illegal to park anywhere other than in a marked bay. Ours is the biggest combined 20mph zone and restricted parking zone in the country - but with the additional on street spaces I am confident that it will work well."