Reforms are coming to parking charges in Reading as minimum stays and fares as a whole are set to increase.
Reading Borough Council, as one of the biggest landowners in the town, also manages and gains income from 12 car parks it owns.
Most of them are concentrated in the town centre, but the council also runs the Recreation Road and Dunstall Close car parks in Tilehurst, the Chester Street car park in Caversham and the Green Park station car park in Whitley.
The Labour administration at the council is seeking to reform parking charges and change minimum stays for the upcoming year.
The biggest change would be increasing the minimum stay at the Queens Road, Broad Street Mall and Civic B from one hour to two hours.
This would increase the minimum charge to £4.30 for two hours at the Broad Street Mall and Civic B car parks, and £4.60 at the Queens Road multi-storey.
The proposals are revealed in a report by Phil Grant, the council’s parking services manager, to its policy committee.
Justifying the increases, Mr Grant stated: “The proposed increase in minimum stay at Queens Road, Broad Street Mall, and Civic B multi-storey car parks is intended to encourage longer visits, which is consistent with approaches used by other authorities to influence turnover and support commercial centres.”
Charges at other car parks are proposed to increase rounded to 10p, save for one place.
The council is also proposing reducing charges at the Green Park station car park.
Mr Grant’s report states: “Green Park car park has persistently low occupancy despite clear local need. Reducing charges will improve usage and better meet local demand.”
The proposed reductions are for stays between three and 24 hours.
The changes at Green Park station, which opened in May 2023, would also get rid of early arrival charges.
The combined effect of the reforms is projected to generate £244k in additional income for 2026/27.
According to figures for 2024/25, it cost the council £2,364,704 to manage the car parks but made £4,539,020 from them, resulting in a surplus of £2,174,316.
Any resulting surplus must be reinvested into transport and highway‑related improvements, in line with Section 55 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.
The changes are set to be decided at the meeting of the council’s policy committee on Monday, June 15.
If they are approved, the new charges and minimum stays will be implemented in August.
