Car park charges to be introduced at Herefordshire Council HQ

11:22am Monday 11th March 2013 in News

HEREFORDSHIRE Council staff will have to pay to park at work from this summer.

Employees and the public leaving their car at the authority’s Plough Lane base and Brockington headquarters will be charged from the beginning of June.

Staff and visitors will also have to pay when parking at Bath Street, the Shirehall and Town Hall.

Alistair Neill, the council’s new chief executive, said: “We have made the decision to implement car parking charges in selected council office locations in Hereford, with effect from 1 June 2013.

“This is obviously a very sensitive issue in the current economic climate and whilst all reasonable options have been considered, we recognise that there is no perfect solution.

“However, at a time when we are trying to encourage residents and businesses to travel in more sustainable ways, it is the right approach that we lead by example.”

He said he hoped the charges will encourage car sharing, walking and cycling among staff.

"This will help to reduce congestion and CO2 emissions in Hereford, where 10,000 car journeys are made every morning during peak times, all of which are less than three miles long,” added Mr Neill.

Comments(26)

David_C says...
11:41am Mon 11 Mar 13

Good. And maybe the arrogant Plough Lane staff would like to stop parking their cars on the double yellow lines along that road? "Don't do as we do...."

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bobby47 says...
12:23pm Mon 11 Mar 13

Bloody Climate Change. Every time the Council change course on anything because they have been forced to due to public opinion, they always spew out the reduction in C0'2 emissions as the reason for their change of heart.
Again, it's this disconnect between us and them that is highlighted here.
We want them to be wading around in the same depth of rat excrement as us and we want them to acknowledge that it's because we are skint that they have been forced to join us in this fiscal bucket of debt.
What do we bloody get? We are joining you in this deluge of rat excrement not because of your past objections but because of C O '2 bloody emissions.
This is the problem. It's how the message is dressed up, spun out and their bloody belief that we'll swallow it no matter how fragile the story is.
This is how it should have read..............Ou
r bubble has burst and the good times are over!

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mizza21 says...
12:44pm Mon 11 Mar 13

Nice Work Bobby47.

I wonder what they'll do with the cash they raise?

I also wonder, how many of them will be able to include parking charges on their expenses.

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megilleland says...
12:46pm Mon 11 Mar 13

What happened to the May Fair debate comments?

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bobby47 says...
1:13pm Mon 11 Mar 13

Megilleland, good friend I've no idea. I've long since stopped wondering why they delete threads of news.
It's probably my strong arm act drivel and tripe.

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silentbull says...
1:13pm Mon 11 Mar 13

megilleland wrote:
What happened to the May Fair debate comments?
Somebody mentioned 'travellers' and so it was taken as being 'non-PC ' ;-)

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Ubique5740 says...
1:29pm Mon 11 Mar 13

Good to hear that HCC have ,at last listened to the residents of this City.

I can see that the next thing to happen is a high number of complaints of the residents of nearby side streets unable to park because of council workers cars being parked there all day .

I fully accept that if its legal to park it's first come ,first served , but.....

After that, HCC will put traffic lights at the junction of Whitecross Rd and Plough Lane or a toocan or pelican crossing for the staff to use after they have parked in the side roads.

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Roger J says...
1:38pm Mon 11 Mar 13

I hope they're going to charge at the same rates as other car parks, & not given preferential treatment.
They spout about Co2 emissions but can't seem to get it into their thick heads that if we had a bypass the snarled up traffic in town would disappear & so would the bulk of in town Co2 emissions.

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CAH123 says...
3:49pm Mon 11 Mar 13

I don't work for the Council but was under the impression that only "essential users" parked at these sites anyway e.g. social workers etc. who need to use their cars for work purposes - visiting families around the county etc. If this is the case presumably they will still be able to park and, if not, why have non-essential users been allowed to park? I expect the Councillors will still be able to park though.

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tenor12 says...
4:25pm Mon 11 Mar 13

I agree with Dave-c , i walk my dog up plough lane and there are always cars parked on double yellows outside the council offices . Down our street the wardens are about very early to catch cars on double yellow and fines gallore as there is very limited parking , wonder if they turn a blind eye to parking outside Jarvis HQ . Also the amount of people parking in the side streets and off to work or shopping is vast aound whitecross . As ive said before there are vast empty spaces weekends and evenings all up plough lane but we would be fined if we used them.

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littlewhitebull says...
6:45pm Mon 11 Mar 13

I wonder why Plough Lane is exempt from wardens ticketing vehicles parked on double yellow lines? Who employs the wardens?!

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GDJ says...
8:36pm Mon 11 Mar 13

I wonder if the hoped for new social workers and managers are expecting to pay back their golden hello payments to park their cars at council offices.

As CAH123 says, there are people who are based at council offices but are expected to use their own cars to travel out to families, schools, nurseries, planning meetings etc. They should surely be exempt or they could legitimately say to Mr Neill "ok, I will travel here on a sustainable bus or bike, then you pay for taxis to get me to Bromyard or Weobley when I need to go there. Or, " I've had to park half a mile away in a residential street so I need longer to get to my appointment and back".

Will volunteer school governors be charged when they are attending training at Blackfriars in their own time and at their own travel expense? Will prospective foster carers be charged to park while they giving up time to try to help the council?

This move is ok as a political PR gesture but the complications and anomalies will mean it ends in tears.

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Ubique5740 says...
8:46pm Mon 11 Mar 13

The below copied from the Council web site, so Blackfriars is free. I am also sure that the decision makers have thought of essential and casual users of their vehicles and planned accordingly.

The charges, which will be payable by council staff and visitors, will be introduced on 1 June 2013 in Bath Street, Brockington, Plough Lane, Shirehall and the Town Hall.

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Ledlass says...
10:17pm Mon 11 Mar 13

Why should council employees who need their cars be any different to NHS staff that need to use theirs, eg Occupational Therapists etc. Whilst working at Worcester Hospital 8 years ago, I still had to pay for staff car parking, even whilst on holiday and maternity leave.

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Mr.Herefordian says...
10:31pm Mon 11 Mar 13

What about the big money people with their parking passes, chief officers and the new chief executive I bet he has his new pass in his car. But I suppose they are important, what a joke.

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Herefordborn says...
10:53pm Mon 11 Mar 13

I agree Mr Herefordian, I think it is more likely that the councillors and the majority of the management on their high pay will all qualify as business users and the majority of staff paying to park will be the lower paid, office based staff that are already under massive pressure from job cuts. Surely Council staff are not the only ones that have benefited from being able to park for free all these years. I know of several businesses in town where staff are able to park for free and what about supermarket staff and other businesses. Surely their staff don't pay for parking at their place of work either?

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Moreteavicar? says...
12:54pm Tue 12 Mar 13

mizza21 - no one can claim parking costs on expenses, unless they travel somewhere on business - so no different to any other company.

Ubique5740 – Blackfriars is to be used only by Business Users – it will NOT be a free car park for all staff.

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Ubique5740 says...
1:54pm Tue 12 Mar 13

More teavicar
Ubique5740 – Blackfriars is to be used only by Business Users – it will NOT be a free car park.
Apologies,can only go on what the HCC press release says. As I said in my previous post - the sentence covering the car parks where charges will apply was copied and pasted onto my post. Sincere apologies for mis guiding anybody, it wasn't my intention. I do always try to be truthful and always believe what the HCC say in their press releases. I will be more guarded in future.

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Moreteavicar? says...
1:56pm Tue 12 Mar 13

No prob :-)

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Biomech says...
9:55pm Tue 12 Mar 13

Wasn't this news last week?

Anyway, if places like Blackfriars remain free to park in - I think I might start parking there :) ... you know, for when I go to town to do my business banking.

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TwoWheelsGood says...
2:35pm Wed 13 Mar 13

Public Notice in the Journal today outlining charges for Blackfriars - £4.70 for over 4 hours, plus 20p to pay by phone plus 10p for a reminder text. There's a price to pay for the smoothest tarmac in the County ...

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Biomech says...
2:43pm Wed 13 Mar 13

Is that blackfriars ref Council or that temporary carpark that's a replacement for the multistorey?

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TwoWheelsGood says...
3:41pm Wed 13 Mar 13

The new temporarily permanent carpark, confusingly named Blackfriars by those in charge.

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Herefordboy says...
12:59pm Thu 14 Mar 13

No doubt they will all start parking down Harrow Rd again like they did when they first moved to Plough Lane.Double parking.parking right up to entrances and junctions etc making it impossible for lorries to make deliveries to buisnesses oe even turn around.

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dippyhippy says...
2:32pm Thu 14 Mar 13

So, does this mean the Plough Lane car parks will be open overnight and weekends? And will the public pay the same? Quite agree with the comments about parking outside their offices on double yellows, its one of those things in life that just makes my blood boil! Such a flagrant flouting of the rules that are vigorously applied to us mere mortals!

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Grid Knocker says...
5:20pm Fri 15 Mar 13

I feel very sorry for the staff who are being clobbered by this Draconian measure, especially when thoughtless members of the public are exploting the situation. Today I was at Brockington and in the parking bay clearly marked 'Reserved for the Leader of the Council' some **** with a car registation number M1 JGJ had gone and stuck his Vauxhall limo!

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