On 20 January 2025, Warrington Borough Council released a statement ‘proposing changes to parking charges in Stockton Heath and Lymm’. The suggestions put forward by Warrington Borough Council if implemented ‘would see the removal of the ‘free parking’ period from Spring 2025. Instead, the idea would be to charge car park users ‘70p for the first hour’. In Stockton Heath the ‘free after 3pm’ policy would be removed with standard parking fees brought in until 5pm’.
Warrington Borough Council will also look to ‘implement a new evening rate between the hours of 5pm and 10pm’. This would be charged at a rate of £1.40 if car park users stay parked for over sixty minutes.
Why stop free parking in Stockton Heath and Lymm?
Measures of this kind are introduced due to the perceived need to increase council income, and this case is no exception. In its statement, Warrington Borough Council claimed it needed to ‘make difficult choices to ‘balance the budget’, plug the £30 million council budget, and make sure vital frontline services are protected’. Decision makers in the council claimed the move was necessary because the present ‘financial situation and rising costs of operation, managing, and maintaining the parking facility meant it is, in the view of Warrington Borough Council, ‘unsustainable’.
What do local people think?
If those running Warrington Borough Council thought the local residents would just accept the ideas to end free car parking without any question, they would be very much mistaken as campaigner, Lisa Ruth, has voiced her opposition to the plans by way of a petition. She describes feeling ‘deeply concerned about the proposed removal of free parking periods at Lymm and Stockton Heath Car Parks’. The petitioner ‘fears ending free parking in Lymm and Stockton Heath would have a detrimental effect on the community and has the potential to cause the closure of nearby local businesses’.
Is this a new phenomenon?
Many people reading this article may think that this issue has only just come about in the last couple of weeks. However, if the reader thinks this, they are labouring under a misconception, because this is an issue which first came to the attention of the public in 2013 when Warrington Borough Council wanted to change the free parking to a paid system. Campaigner Sally Sharna reminds people of this in her petition, and mentions the successful opposition movement against the move back then, when three thousand people approached the council to speak out against the proposals. Ms Sharna observes that Warrington Borough Council relented on the proposal to remove free parking for the community in the face of the ‘resistance’, and now encourages people to object to the plans again.
During the campaign nine years ago, the Liberal Democrats, the opposition group on the council, accused Warrington Borough Council of violating the law. Back then the Liberal Democrats believed the ‘proposals would make matters worse, not better, for shoppers in Lymm and Stockton Heath’.
High Court has spoken out about parking fees before
In a High Court case brought against Barnet Council, some residents ‘challenged the increasing price of a parking permit scheme which they felt were unnecessary’ and the rationale put forward for this argument is that the ‘scheme was already in surplus’. The residents claimed the ‘raising of the price of the parking scheme was unfairly loaded on a small proportion of people in the locality’.
As a comparison to the Lymm and Stockton area, High Court judge, Mrs Justice Lang in the Barnet County Council case, observed ‘that the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 “is not a fiscal measure and does not authorise the authority to use its powers to charge local residents for parking in order to raise surplus revenue for other transport purposes”.
Whilst High Court judgments may not be binding, the facts of this case may prove a persuasive precedent if residents chose to challenge the decision: to stop free parking in the areas of Lymm and Stockton Heath, and impose a paid structure for parking on residents.
Residents can speak out
Campaigner Ms Sharma claims that bringing in parking charges and disposing of free parking could ‘deter consumers from visiting local businesses’, pointing to research findings published by ‘the Federation of Small Businesses in the United Kingdom’ in 2020 which found that 64% of small businesses think the lack of free parking places is a barrier to their success’.
Ms Sharna believes businesses to be the backbone of the community:
- creating jobs
- growing the nearby economy
- preserving the character of the neighbourhood
Ms Sharma is of the view that if Warrington Borough Council makes this change, it will have a detrimental impact on the areas of Stockton Heath and Lymm.
Free parking spaces are becoming an endangered species
It will be interesting to see how this case develops and if the residents stand their ground. If the case ends up in the courts, the residents have a reasonable prospect of successfully keeping their free parking. It looks like free parking is an endangered species in Lymm and Stockton Heath, and if anyone reading this article wants to support the campaign to keep parking free, please consider putting pen to paper and signing the petition.
