having to pay to park in the park car park....

[SteveSteveson]

Jaguar steve said:

blueg33 said:

Most places in the rest of Europe don't charge for parking at parks or beaches etc. This country takes the piss with parking charges in many places.

When we go away, cost of parking especially at beaches becomes a consideration. Over a couple of weeks holiday its a material difference.

Exactly this. Nowhere else I've been in Europe wallet rapes like the UK does for parking. It's always either free or in particularly rammed places like Madrid or Barcelona city centres or some beaches in the south of France charges are a few cents an hour and you usually pay on leaving for exactly the time to the minute you've been there. Not a thought of refusal to give change or demand for reg numbers or paying up front in sight.

I get why organizations like the National Trust have to charge but most of the run down st holes that pass themselves off as holiday resorts in the UK or individuals who charge way more than a large family round of ice creams to park in a pot holed and mud slicked field full of stinging nettles by a beach or local authorities who think charging for a visit to a invariably neglected park with flowerbeds full of weeds and a liberal scattering of used syringes, graffiti, litter and dog st all over are absolutely taking the piss.

Local authorities and people who do so are obviously too dim witted to work out they ought to be encouraging and welcoming people ready to spend time and money in the area and not shafting them vigorously up the arse before the car is even out of sight and at the same time leaving the threat of big fines and penalties if they dare to overstay. All that actually does is make everybody scuttle off promptly once the three hours or whatever is up rather than hanging around for longer and potentially supporting local businesses by having a meal in a restaurant, doing some more shopping or spending the evening in the pub.

And how much do you pay for museums and galleries in most of Europe? Different countries put their money to different things.

[s3fella]

Went to the Isle of Man for TT and it was really noticeable how pretty much everything is free, parking in towns, seafront, all the Glens etc, all really beautiful, many manned, all well maintained, clean, bins provided, regularly emptied etc. And all just free.

Just remembered thinking how different it was to Devon and Cornwall where we were last year!

We paid £2 for all day today at a lake / cycle track and I'm not fussed about it, as it is a nice place and again well maintained, but we do pay our Council Tax.

[hora]

How do they collect if you don't pay? Surely employing a firm wouldn't be cost effective..

[CS Garth]

If you are going to compare costs to park your vehicle between countries then a fair like for like would be to also consider the costs to buy your vehicle, tax it, fill it with fuel, and drive it there (including road tolls) prior to parking costs. And once done motoring costs have to be put in context of the wider macro taxation environment and desirability of location

Or put another way, it's easy to say that you don't have to pay to park in France, wine is cheaper, whatever. But you have to live in France to benefit from this. As always, you pays your money......

Edited by CS Garth on Monday 29th August 07:59

[Steve H]

davidc1 said:

Anything to discourage people to exercise is rotten.especially as alot of people have no garden - the park is their garden.

Some of us have to pay the costs of our own gardens. When they come round and mow my lawn as part of the council tax you can have free parking.

[wazztie16]

gus607 said:

All count your selved lucky that you don't live in Nottingham.
Amongst the highest street parking costs in the country, no free parking in parks anymore,work in the city ? Then pay just under £400 to park in your COMPANY car park !Coutesy of the dreaded Workplace Parking Levy.

Traffic enforcement via CCTV everywhere in the city @ £70 a go.

All this to fund a stupid fking tram system no one wanted in the first fking place.

Bramcote Hills Park near Stapleford is decent and free parking. I go there a lot with the kids.

I'm from Derby though and Markeaton Park charges, better park and bigger area to roam etc so you get what you pay for.

[vikingaero]

hora said:

How do they collect if you don't pay? Surely employing a firm wouldn't be cost effective..

Plenty of people being taken to Court by Private Parking Companies. £85 fine/invoice for some signs and cameras is pretty easy money.

[RB Will]

They have just changed 2 of the 3 parks here to pay and display rather than free that they have been for 100 years. Would be nice if there had been some investment in them first.

It's £2-4 depending on how long you stay or regulars can pay about £50 for a season ticket.
I went to one of them yesterday and for a sunny Sunday it was pretty quiet compared to past visits.
The in laws live about 1/4 mile away from the other park and have said ever since the charges have been in place all the roads in the local residential area are parked up in evenings and weekends.

[BuzzBravado]

East Lothian Council have made it so you need to pay to park near a beach. It is widely ignored.

[blueg33]

Its interesting. In France for instance the tax burden per head, including social security and healthcare, is about 12 percent higher than the UK. They have a similar population, 5 percent lower average income, twice as much road to maintain etc. Yet, generally you don't have to pay to park on streets and at beaches and their public realm and roads are much better maintained and presented than ours.

I am not sure if net 7 or so percent tax covers that?

Nb. All figures approximate and rounded, but based on Institute Molinari research on typical tax burden for workers 2015. Comments on roads and public realm from years of personal observation

[red_slr]

blueg33 said:

Its interesting. In France for instance the tax burden per head, including social security and healthcare, is about 12 percent higher than the UK. They have a similar population, 5 percent lower average income, twice as much road to maintain etc. Yet, generally you don't have to pay to park on streets and at beaches and their public realm and roads are much better maintained and presented than ours.

I am not sure if net 7 or so percent tax covers that?

Nb. All figures approximate and rounded, but based on Institute Molinari research on typical tax burden for workers 2015. Comments on roads and public realm from years of personal observation

I think a lot of the issue is that private companies in the UK look after roads for the LA.
Round here its done by an off shoot of the council - not quite sure how they get away with it tbh. All the electrical and ground works are also done by private companies for said council off shoot. The result is a job that should cost a couple of grand costs £20k+.

[red_slr]

As for car parks at parks - my local, a very large park - one of the largest in the UK, charges £1. They started charging about 5-6 years ago. We stopped going, but people still pay it, its only a quid! I mean the fact the LA stiff me for £2500 in council tax to empty my bin every 3 weeks is alright too I guess.

[CS Garth]

Part of the problem is that local authorities understand little about the true elasticity of demand if even a small charge is levied - you've only got to look at the (very welcome in my view) carrier bag "tax" to see that a very modest charge can radically alter behaviour.

Charging people to park at parks either discourages people to go there (counter productive given our obesity problems) or forces cars the streets surrounding them as has already been pointed out.

Presumably some council employee who has an 'ology would say that they want people to walk there but the reality is that with young children this isn't very practical.

The real problem is the parking companies who wish to enforce these rules and lobby car park owners to let them do so

[TooMany2cvs]

CS Garth said:

Presumably some council employee who has an 'ology would say that they want people to walk there but the reality is that with young children this isn't very practical.

It always used to be.

[blueg33]

TooMany2cvs said:

CS Garth said:

Presumably some council employee who has an 'ology would say that they want people to walk there but the reality is that with young children this isn't very practical.

It always used to be.

We used to have fewer cars on the roads.

[TooMany2cvs]

blueg33 said:

TooMany2cvs said:

CS Garth said:

Presumably some council employee who has an 'ology would say that they want people to walk there but the reality is that with young children this isn't very practical.

It always used to be.

We used to have fewer cars on the roads.

Not least because people realised it was possible to walk, instead of driving everywhere.

[CS Garth]

TooMany2cvs said:

CS Garth said:

Presumably some council employee who has an 'ology would say that they want people to walk there but the reality is that with young children this isn't very practical.

It always used to be.

Kids seem to have a bit more paraphernalia these days but that's a separate thread....

[CS Garth]

TooMany2cvs said:

blueg33 said:

TooMany2cvs said:

CS Garth said:

Presumably some council employee who has an 'ology would say that they want people to walk there but the reality is that with young children this isn't very practical.

It always used to be.

We used to have fewer cars on the roads.

Not least because people realised it was possible to walk, instead of driving everywhere.

People are lazier I think but previously parks were only really used by those who lived nearby and thus many were deprived of the amenity which could only be used by those who could afford the nearby houses. I'm all for parks being open to all (except perhaps heavy drinkers and paedos) and if a few have to drive there I think that's the price to pay

[spookly]

Our local parking enforcement has been a bit of a joke for years.

The council, via their appointed private parking aholes, have always policed the designated council car parks. Responsibility for policing parking on the roads has changed between the council and the police several times.

Currently the police are responsible for all non-council car park parking enforcement. And the result is that you can park anywhere you like on double yellows as long as you aren't causing an obstruction. So long as you aren't blocking anything the police simply don't have time to deal with it. So many of the more savvy locals just use the double yellows where they aren't causing a nuisance instead of the council car parks.

We don't have parking charges at any of the parks yet, and I don't think they will as most of the parks have plenty of on street parking around them which is usually not too busy.

Unfortunately the council are taking over road parking in the not too distant future so it'll be back to normal, and they will probably coin it in. Their private parking enforcers are very aggressive and I've seen them wait ninja like to pounce on cars when tickets expire. The only lucky thing is that they seem to be very error prone and use the wrong offence codes, wrong car park codes/location or wrong penalty amounts on tickets so you can easily challenge them. I've had the only 3 tickets I've received cancelled due to those reasons, but I suspect most pay.

If you do get a council issued ticket always check your local councils parking management plan. It should tell you all the designated car parks, parking rules, what penalties are in force and how much the penalties should be. If they cock up any of those on the ticket then challenges are usually successful IME.

[Zerotonine]

My local council have just started charging for parking at two of the local parks. It is because they have blown all their money on a failed wifi for all scheme, investigating the mayor for calling someone a mong, and sculptures no one wants. They have already ditched the leisure centres, due to lack of investment over the past 30 years. One leisure centre has the main pool closed and a Environmental Health investigation launched after a poor kid got Crypto, but it didn't get closed for three weeks after the first reported case. Now they want to parish everywhere in the area, to add another level of bureaucracy, and hike the council tax further.

TL:DR Local Councils suck.