Steve Atkins, Parking Services Manager, introduced a report which provided an update on the income generated from parking charges at the Country Parks.

Since charging was introduced in the week commencing 22 January 2018, the total income received up to 31 December 2018 was £168,000. This included £27,100 from the sale of 542 annual parking permits. The annual parking permits could be used in any vehicle and in any of the Country Parks so represented value for money for regular park users. The total number of transactions (parking tickets purchased) was approximately 139,000 for the same period. This patronage at car parks didn’t directly reflect on visitor numbers as driving / parking habits might have changed since the introduction of the parking charges.

To date £100,000 had been spent or committed to maintenance and improvements at the Country Parks which could be related to car parking, e.g. resurfacing of the car park at Arrowe Country Park.

These proposals had met the predicted increased income to the Council of £150,000 p.a. which had been included in the Council budget for future years.

If parking charges were removed from the Country Parks then this would result in a deficit in the Council’s approved financial plan for future years of over £150,000 which would need to be covered by compensatory savings or income from other service areas.

Further information had also been circulated to the Committee which included a comparison of the estimated / predicted costs with the actual outcomes and this information was up to and including 18 January, 2019.

The report recommended that the contents were noted, that charging for parking at the Country Parks remained and that the impact of the charges on traffic management issues was continually monitored.

Councillor Chris Blakeley stated that the Conservative Group was totally opposed to car parking charges in country parks as the Council should be encouraging people to attend parks and open spaces to benefit the physical and mental health of residents. 

A  Member commented upon the detrimental impact to businesses at Eastham Country Park and that not one business in the vicinity had been contacted by the Authority.

Another Member suggested that visitor numbers should be looked at over the next 3 years or so to see if numbers increased or decreased. Council policies were not made in isolation and the country parks did need a certain amount of upkeep which could be paid for through the parking charges.

Responding to comments from Members, Steve Atkins stated that with regard to Wirral Country Park at Thurstaston, the only contact he had had was from the Park Rangers and the owner of the coffee shop but not in respect of any negative impact of the parking charges. With regard to visitor number statistics there had been approximately 146,500 transactions through the pay and display machines but these were not an indication of visitor numbers. It would be possible to undertake some visitor number surveys. There had been no formal assessment on the impact  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38