Motorists will face changes to parking charges to use council-run sites in Lichfield later this month.
Lichfield District Council is amending fees at short stay and long term car parks in a bid to encourage drivers to use the most appropriate sites.
The changes to fees will see the introduction of a free 30 minute period for motorists using short stay sites.
Other amendments will see a full day in short stay car parks rise from £8 to £20 in a bid to get those spending longer in spaces using the long stay facilities where a full day will drop from £4.30 to £4.
There will also be the introduction of a charge for parking on Bank Holidays, while evening and Sunday prices will also rise.
The new fees, which will be introduced from 10th January, for short stay parking are:
| Time | Current price | New price |
| Up to 30 minutes | £1 | Free |
| 30 minutes to one hour | £1 | £1 |
| Two hours | £2 | £3.50 |
| Three hours | £3 | £5 |
| Four hours | £4 | £8 |
| All day | £8 | £20 |
| Evening | Free | £1.50 |
| Sunday | £1 | £2 |
| Bank Holidays | Free | £2 |
Long stay car parks will see the following changes:
| Time | Current price | New price |
| Four hours | £2.10 | £1.50 |
| Six hours | £3.20 | £2.50 |
| All day | £4.30 | £4 |
| Evening | Free | £1 |
| Sunday | £1 | £2 |
| Bank Holiday | Free | £2 |
Cllr Janice Silvester-Hall, cabinet member for high streets and the visitor economy, said:
“We are introducing revised parking charges to benefit all motorists by encouraging them to use the car park most appropriate for the duration of their stay.
“This is just one of the measures we have developed to make parking easier and more convenient. Others include the provision of additional car parking spaces seven days a week at District Council House in Frog Lane and weekend parking in the temporary car park on the former garage site on Birmingham Road.”
Cllr Janice Silvester-Hall, Lichfield District Council
Other changes from 10th January will include Sandford Street car park becoming a short stay facility.
Blue badge holders will continue to be able to park in any space at a council-run car park for free.
Im assuming they dont realise people will just go back and get another ticket for an hour saving them £1.50 for if they wish to stay for 2 hours. Either doing this or just more poeple using the long stay car park for short stay. Why not just invest in a proper multi storey underground carpark.
The short stay changes might help with congestion in some areas, but the evening charge is not going to help restaurants and bars in Lichfield that are already under significant pressure.
Sorry, I’m missing the part where this “benefits all motorists”?? Also, not that long ago I read an article saying that the multi-storey in town would be demolished as Lichfield has “plenty of city centre parking”. Which is it?
Maybe everyone should just start parking at the rear of Cross Keys. All the delivery drivers park there most of the time without any tickets being issued so I don’t see why we all can’t just do the same.
Bad news for traders jn town – awful for Garrick patrons & will likely never pay back what is expected by LDC due to more customers going to Ventura Park which has much more to offer than just free parking
Guess we’ll all be aiming for these then??
Introducing evening charges will just encourage drivers to dump their cars on the single-yellows, clogging up the streets with doubtless poor parking decisions (think hanging over junctions, wheels on pavements etc)
This is idiocy. This either drives everyone who wants to be in town for 2 hours into long stay, or to go elsewhere. We don’t have that much long stay parking,so they will be full fast. No time to eat, wander and shop – this just forces people to pop in for 1 hour or less and then go elsewhere. Expect to see even fewer people in Lichfield in 2024.
The same madness seems to be infecting Council’s elsewhere. Paradise Circus Car Park in Birmingham has just been closed in spite of raising £700,000 a year in revenue for the Council and being one of the cheapest and most popular car parks in central Birmingham. It’s being demolished to make way for housing. Sound familiar? Objections from Symphony Hall, Birmingham Rep, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and even the Town Hall staff were ignored. The Lichfield Garrick will surely suffer when hundreds of Panto goers can no longer park to the rear of the theatre. The only beneficiaries seem to be the developers who are getting a large building site and a guaranteed profit at the expense of local Council Tax payers.
Does the council honestly think we’re all gormless uneducated morons. All they’re doing is robbing Peter to pay Paul. Welcome to Lichfield.
Give the revenue from car parking is circa £400k per year. I wonder why they don’t make it free. Or at least for significant time periods/days.
Given the cost of the new technology, pay machines and enforcement staff I wonder if really makes any meaningful contribution. All the extra houses paying CT would more than cover it.
But this just doesn’t make sense! Surely everyone will just park in the long stay car parks! Far cheaper
I took my grandson by train to Birmingham the other week & there were no parking spaces behind the council offices or at the city station car park so I had to park in the multi storey & pay £8. I’m blowed if I’ll pay £20
The introduction of charging for parking on Bank Holidays and especially evenings is going to have a negative effect on the nightlife industry of Lichfield and surely the morons who churned out this ridiculous idea could have foresaw this!
Given the imminent changes – I’m astonished to see that there’s no mention of these changes at all on the LDC website. Or at least not in the car parking section.
Strangely the supermarkets (including Tesco) have understood the marketing strategy that if people can park their cars freely they will spend money.
Lichfield desperately needs change to save the centre. The council have the highest (and stupidist) parking costs of any similar town / city in the midlands. You even struggle to pay at some of them, especially if you do not use mobile phones.
Why no park and ride? Perhaps a visitors day rate. Perhaps a commuter park and and ride area for bus and train services. Or you could follow Tamworth (always busy) and keep charges to a minimum.
Sadly, as in many other factors, the council are bereft of ideas…. except more and more parking increases disguised as an improvement!
@Philip couldn’t agree more, when Tesco had the machines for parking, I went less often and spent less.
It is now cheaper for me to drive past Lichfield and go to Tamworth
I was quite cheerful until I read Lichfield Life. Oh dear!