Parking charges across Wokingham Borough will rise from Tuesday, June 20 and Wednesday June 21.
Charges in council-owned Wokingham town car parks will start from £1.30 for up to an hour. The maximum will be £7 for over six hours.
There will also be an extended day trading charge of £6.50 for market traders using the Cockpit Path car park. Residents can also get an overnight residents’ permit to park in council car parks overnight.
Outside Wokingham town, daytime charges in council-run car parks will start from £1 for up to an hour, to £7 for over six hours. Charges will be £2 for up to two hours, £4 for up to four hours, and £6 for up to six hours.
These will come into effect in Woodley on Thursday June 22, and then across the rest of the borough on Friday June 23.
Charges across the borough are currently 80p for up to an hour, £1.20 for up to two hours, £2 for up to four hours, £3 for up to six hours and £4 for over that.
The daytime charging period will increase to between 6am and 10pm, Monday to Sunday. This is up from the current times of 8am until 6pm, Monday to Saturday.
Between 6pm and 10pm, users will pay a fixed fee of £1. Parking overnight between 10pm and 6am will be free using a free vend ticket from the pay and display machines.
Wokingham Borough Council’s Liberal Democrat-run executive committee approved the increases in March this year – despite at least 122 residents objecting to them in a consultation. They will be the first rise since 2018.
Conservatives on the council objected to the plans, with their leader Pauline Jorgensen previously describing the charges as a “disastrous policy”.
But Liberal Democrats say the increases are necessary to fund council spending on highway maintenance without taking money from other areas such as children and adults’ social care.
Cllr Paul Fishwick, executive member for active travel, transport and highways, said: “In our current financial position, we have had to make tough choices, and raising car park charges is one of them.
“We are not immune to the cost-of-living crisis, and, like residents, are having to make difficult choices to make sure we can keep providing our most essential services.”
