A Q&A about the new evening/ overnight and weekend parking charges in Wokingham Borough Council car parks is now available on the council’s website.
With the new charges due to come into force on 1 August, public notices about the changes are being displayed in all of the borough’s car parks from 21 July.
The Saturday daytime changes however are being delayed by a few weeks in Shute End because additional trenches are needed for the new power supply to the ticket machines, and this work is taking longer than expected.
A pilot scheme increasing daytime charges in just Woodley town centre – in lieu of weekend and evening increases – could start at the beginning of September pending a decision by the council’s decision making executive at its July meeting.
With cuts in government funding making the council’s financial position increasingly difficult, the new charges will help keep pace with increasing costs to run and maintain car parks.
The new evening/ overnight charges will apply Mondays to Sundays (6pm to 8am) at £1 per night. On Sundays and Bank Holidays (8am to 6pm) there will be a daily charge of £1.
The new charges at Shute End car park on Saturdays (8am to 6pm) are in line with those currently payable in the council’s other car parks. The new evening charge will also apply here.
Existing and new season tickets (one, three and six month’s duration) will now be extended to include the new overnight charges, with no increase in price.
Annual season tickets for evening and overnight parking (6pm to 8am) are also being introduced in borough car parks apart from School Lane in Wargrave.
For commuters buying all-day tickets on an ad hoc basis, they will be able to pay the additional £1 charge in advance if they know they need to park before 8am and/or not return until after 6pm (which will cover them until 8am the following day).
Telephone payment system RingGo has also been introduced in council car parks, replacing Metric Mobile. The new system, which also has an app for smart phones, works in exactly the same way although there is a different telephone number for people to call the first time they use it to set up their account.
