By Council retains ‘commitment’ to support Town Centre
North Lincolnshire Council has approved keeping its successful free parking scheme in Scunthorpe, where users have reportedly benefited from a huge £20m since introduced.
The council cited the usage of the free parking is nearing pre-Covid-19 demand, with more than 13 million free tickets issued.
The scheme was introduced in 2014, and allows free parking for up to two hours, prior to this, users had to pay £1.50 for the first two hours.
In the first year it was introduced, 92.6 per cent of all pay and display tickets issued were free.
The council said the true value “is hard to quantify”, but the council report estimated that customers of the council-owned car parks in North Lincolnshire have benefited overall by £19.5m.
“Due to behavioural changes during the pandemic, it is unlikely pay & display parking will recover to the pre pandemic rates,” it warns.
“Budget income reductions to be noted, with current paid for parking revenue being cut by approximately 48 per cent.”
Cllr Neil Poole, portfolio holder for highways and flooding, said that while paid tickets were still down around 50 per cent on pre-pandemic figures, the number of free tickets issued had recovered to around 80 per cent.
“Amazon vans and DL are all eroding the High Street,” Cllr Poole said, citing the “real, challenging pressures” which high streets face.
The report states the paid-for parking is used primarily by “town centre workers”. Cllr Rob Waltham, council leader, said: “It’s a significant part of our commitment to our local residents to continue to support the town centre”.
