The free car parking offered to motorists in short-stay car parks in the Isle of Wight’s county town will stop at the end of the month. It comes as funding has run out for the free parking pilot which saw shoppers in Newport allowed to park in Lugley Street, Sea Street and Chapel Street car parks for an hour free. The pilot was first introduced in May 2022 in an attempt to bring customers back to the local businesses in the Island’s county town after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was supported by funding from Newport and Carisbrooke Community Council and the Isle of Wight Council. In the last 18 months, the community council has paid the Isle of Wight Council £76,500 to make up for the loss of income it would have received for that hour’s parking fee. It had set aside £80,000 (£40,000 for each year the scheme ran), but as it is ending shortly the remaining money has gone back into the community council’s budget. In the first 6 months of the trial, more than 62,000 free hour tickets were issued and had been marked as a success by the community council as visitor numbers had increased in the town. Councillors had said it was difficult to put into figures how much local businesses had benefitted from the hour of free parking. However, the community council had always agreed to fund the scheme if it was matched by the Isle of Wight Council but the bigger authority “did not have the money to pay for it” any longer, so the scheme will come to an end on 26th February. Despite the contributions from the community council, the Isle of Wight Council had lost £26,000. Speaking on Thursday, Councillor Phil Jordan, the Isle of Wight Council’s leader and cabinet member for transport and infrastructure, said it had always been a pilot which has now run out. He said he has asked for a report to be produced on the outcomes of the pilot and what it has achieved, before the council makes any further decisions about what it could potentially do with parking in the future. Councillor Jordan pointed to the Alliance Administration’s promise to freeze parking charges for the year ahead after “13 consecutive years of increases”. The council’s short-stay car parks cost £4.10 for between 1 and 2 hours.
1-HOUR FREE PARKING OFFER IN NEWPORT TO STOP AT THE END OF FEBRUARY
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My wild conspiracy theory: Council paid off by online and major retailers
4.10 for one to two hours is disgusting
and i bet the 10 p add on is for people that put 50 p in as they dont have small change,but still only get 1-2 hours
still disgraceful though.
Look forward to seeing more charity shops popping up. Stupid move by the council they really are brain dead. Let me guess 6 months time 1 hours free parking to help the towns due to less people visiting towns
Not going to do us shop owners any favours. Short sighted councillors.
So the IoW council are saying they can’t afford £26,000 a year? Really? But they can afford a fleet of new hybrid cars, and to keep subsidising loss-making leisure services.
Short-term parking and toilets should be free. Thankfully there are supermarkets which know this basic business economics.
Do what Paris does, charge people more who park larger vehicles.
Well done Mr Macron, there are too many selfish B’stards who are parking
vehicles that overlap other spaces.
£4-10 FOR 1TO 2HRS!!!! Newport the ghost town.. / bookies / charity shops …..
WEST QUAY £2-50 For 2/3 hrs ..
4hrs £3-50 …5hrs £4-50 ….up to 6hrs £5-00….
Why is the iow parking so high ?????…
Of course because our councillike wasting our money, and topping up the fat pension pot……
I reckon most of the council use the council HQ carpark when shopping in Newport, so they’re exempt from having to pay anything, scummers.
People surely can’t afford to pay £4.10 to park in a short stay car park for That time, it’s no wonder the shops are empty.
the council are very greedy and really don’t give a sh*t about the business in the town all they want is more and more money because they can’t manage their finances I hope all the parking meters stay empty that will teach the robbing bastar**s the business don’t have a chance of survival .
No one would expect it free but come on it’s got to work both ways here.
Btw have you seen the state of the car parks ?
Free short term parking on Union Street in Ryde. Just saying…
Won’t be long before meters pop up over night
No more trips to shops in Newport for me from march then.
£4.10 for up to 2 hours that must be a joke
No not a joke. Just remember our council are the dearest in the UK
How to kill shopping and tourism
That’ll be me spending a lot less time and money in Newport then.
Jerk Jordan strikes again. Not enough money to keep this scheme going huh, let’s see how much the councillors will get in a pay rise in April, funny how they can always afford that though. £4.10 for between 1 – 2 hours that’s bloody ridiculous, cheaper to get a bus in and back to Newport with the £2 bus fares at the moment. As per usual the council not thinking straight and like the tory government, so out of touch.
Strangling the life out of our local shops. Well done iwcc.
£4.10 to park or bus it for £4 return. Also saves on petrol. But not practical for everyone’s time frame of life!
No need to go to newport anymore
its a desolate eyesore
and the greedy corrupt council have just made it even worse.
if only they could spend our money in a controlled manner we wouldn’t be in this mess.
Yep! Well done! That should see off those pesky visitors who want to come here and spend their money. Who needs it? Errrr??