Sunday parking charge for Honiton, Axminster and Ottery
Lace Walk car park in Honiton - Credit: Google
Sunday parking charges are set to be introduced in car parks in Ottery St Mary, Honiton and Axminster, with evening charges to be introduced across the district.
East Devon District Council’s present car parking tariffs already treat Sundays as a normal trading day in their coastal towns along with Colyton and Lympstone. But for historic reasons, they have never asked for payment for use of their car parks in Ottery St Mary, Honiton and Axminster on Sundays.
But the Car Parking Task and Finish Forum backed proposals from officers for this to end as ‘there is no logical reason to continue with this no charges on Sundays’ policy in these towns’.
And the councillors also agreed to introduce a nominal £1 fee for an evening parking charge between 8pm and 6am at car parks in seven of the towns in East Devon.
Andrew Ennis, service lead for car parks, told the committee that that prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, they were seeing levels of commercial activity in our towns on Sundays that was largely not happening in the past.
Cllr Eleanor Rylance said that she supported trialling this, however,, Cllr Andrew Moulding, who represents Axminster, said that he would not be favour of it, and it would be very detrimental to those people going to church or using pubs and restaurants on a Sunday lunch, and then to have to pay car parking charges would not be appreciated.
But the committee voted by four votes to two, with two abstentions, in favour of the proposal to introduce Sunday charges to the three towns.
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The decision followed the Forum backing plans to introduce an evening parking charge – initially at a flat rate of just £1.
The Forum though voted by five votes to one, with one abstention, for the trial of £1 evening parking charges in the affected car parks.
They are the Lace Walk short stay car park in Honiton, West Street short stay car park in Axminster, Orchard car park in Seaton, Central car park in Beer, Mill Street, the Ham East and West and the Roxburgh car park in Sidmouth, Rolle Mews car park in Budleigh Salterton and the London Inn car park, Imperial Road car park and Exmouth Pavilion car park in Exmouth.
