Parking charges to be reintroduced next week

West Berkshire Council says 'time is right' as shops begin to reopen and more people visit town

PARKING charges will be reintroduced in council-run car parks across West Berkshire from Monday.

Since the end of March, car parks operated by West Berkshire Council have been free to help make life easier for key and essential workers at this difficult time.

However, with shops slowly starting to reopen and more people visiting the town following the easing of lockdown rules, the council has taken the decision to start charging again.

PaybyPhone will be available in all council car parks and the local authority is recommending people use this option or contactless payment where possible.

The council added that it is working with suppliers to add further contactless options in more of its car parks.

It reminded people that social distancing still needs to be adhered to and there will be plenty of signage across all car parks to highlight this.

West Berkshire executive member for transport and countryside, Richard Somner, said: “Like the rest of England, we are seeing an increase in vehicles and footfall across our towns since the restrictions were relaxed a few weeks ago.

“In turn this has meant that our car parks, which have been free for the last few months, are starting to get busy again as more and more people are heading back to work, shopping or venturing out for their exercise.

“We have received praise from key and essential workers about keeping car parks open and not charging while they carried out their vital roles.

“Residents have done the right thing by staying home to save lives but we feel now is the right time to start reintroducing the car park charges across all council owned car parks in West Berkshire as we all start to head back into some sort of normality.”

For more information on which car parks are open or closed and their charges, visit the council’s website at https://westberks.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=26909