New Forest District Council approves an increase in parking charges across the town and village car parks it owns in addition to 10% hike in fees at Keyhaven River

Parking charges will be hiked across New Forest towns and villages, along with mooring and launch fees at Keyhaven River.

Each autumn New Forest District Council meets to set its charges and fees, with implementation to start the following calendar year.

The council has 44 pay-and-display car parks in the district, 30 of which are known as ‘town and village’ car parks and have the same charges throughout the year.

A report to the cabinet, which approved the plans last Wednesday, recommended the charges increase by £1 per tariff, except for a one-hour stay which will remain at £1, and prices for car parks that offer stays of up to 20 hours will increase by £3.

A further 14 pay-and-display car parks in coastal areas, known as ‘amenity’ car parks, have a different charging structure between summer months April to September, compared with winter months.

The report explained: “These car parks are also split into higher and lower amenity tariffs, depending on the usage levels of each car park.

“Our summer amenity charges were increased by £1 per tariff in 2021, and at the same time the summer charging period in these car parks was reduced by two months to give a more reasonable winter/summer tariff split that more accurately reflected the usage of these car parks, thus also allowing the cheaper winter tariff to apply for two more months each year.

“Winter charges in the amenity car parks have not increased since 2018.”

There are also four free small car parks at Ashurst, Eling cemetery in Totton, Bransgore and Pennington.

The report added the cost of the annual short-stay parking clocks will rise from £30 to £40; long stay-annual clocks from £140 to £220, and long-stay quarterly clocks from £40 to £65.

It said the clocks, used by over 32,000 last year, had not increased in price since 2022 and represented “incredibly good value”.

It also recommends the council allocate four days of free parking in town centre car parks to support local businesses during December.

The district council is also in charge of more than 300 moorings at Keyhaven, a dinghy park and grass bank spaces, and collects fees for launching kayaks, canoes, paddleboards and boats.

The report explained the fees and charges – set to go up by 10% – are used to provide a river warden services as well as covering its administration team costs and mooring maintenance.

It said: “We have reduced our maintenance costs over the past two years as a result of replacing the river moorings in 2021 [and] in the next year we will look to conduct a full survey of moorings and use contractors to replace risers, shackles and swivels where required.”

Under the plans, mooring a small boat would rise to £534.60 while a large vessel would cost £1,069.20.

Launching a single kayak, canoe or paddleboard would cost £11.90.

The increase to the council from car parking charges would bring in an increase of £263,000 in 2023/24 and an additional £1.278m in 2024/25.

The increase in Keyhaven fees would produce up to £18,000.

The report concluded: “The setting of fees and charges will necessarily consider the current economic climate, not least recent inflationary pressures, and cost of living, as well as the desire to support the economic viability of our town centres and supporting the journey towards net zero.

“Increasing fees for 2024 is nevertheless a reasonable step in the context of many charges being frozen for up to six years, and our position in relation to comparable councils which demonstrate our current good value for money, in particular in relation to parking clocks.”

However, those against the plans included Lib Dem councillor for Hythe, Malcolm Wade, who said the “eye-watering” hike in parking clocks would particularly hit traders.

He said: “They’ve got a double whammy, really – not only are we potentially pushing people out of our town centre car parks to shop in out-of-town superstores with free parking, but many of the parking clocks are purchased by the traders for their staff.

“If a trader buys five long-stay clocks for five members of staff, that is a significant increase in overheads for their business.”

Cllr Caroline Rackham, Lib Dem member for Totton, added: “Side roads will suffer as people park in residential areas instead of car parks, as a result.”