Parking charges across the Island are to be temporarily suspended by the Isle of Wight Council, it has been announced this morning (Wednesday).
All council car parks and the majority of on-street parking spaces will be free of charge until further notice — although residents must adhere to parking time limits. That said, it is unclear if traffic wardens are still operating to check on whether people are adhering to the time limits.
Esplanades are not included and charging remains in place to deter people from travelling long distances to the coast during the coronavirus crisis. At Yaverland, the Council have completely closed the popular car park by locking the access gates.
At the same time, the authority is encouraging Islanders to use council car parks to free up much-needed on-street spaces for visiting key workers.
Council leader, Councillor Dave Stewart, said the authority recognised the severe financial strain Islanders were currently under. He said:
“That is why we are going beyond the government’s offer of free car parking for critical workers in the NHS and social care during the Covid-19 outbreak.
“However, let me be clear, the message remains: “Stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives” — you should not leave your home unless absolutely necessary.
“I would also ask residents to be considerate and leave spaces free next to pharmacies and supermarkets to allow people to get in and out quickly.”
Article continues below this advertisement
In a further move to support Island residents, the authority has also announced it is to freeze direct debit payments for all parking permits for 3 months. Residents do not need to contact the council or cancel the direct debit at their bank. The council will advise permit holders in advance of the payments recommencing.
The expiry date of all other paid for parking permits will automatically be extended by a further period of 3 months.
Well done Darren, Good April fools
Concession on the isle of wight ? The Island will suffer tourism loss big time this summer, for a change why don’t they suspend parking charges for everyone all year, so that when this ridiculous charade is declared as finally over, they might even encourage tourists to visit beach and bay areas without pricing them out of existence by charging them fortunes just to park their cars.
Still money grabbing council
Couple of questions:
1. Do the time limits still apply in car parks or just on-street parking?
2. Won’t closing the large Yaverland car park just force people up into the small Culver Down ones, or worse, into on-street parking?
3. The same applies to esplanade parking charges – it will just cause people to park in side streets instead.
There seems to be a determination to ban all driving that is based on strange notions like we will all suddenly break down, have accidents or run out of fuel all the time. This didn’t happen prior to lock
(Those who drive that dangerously will probably continue to do so anyway.)
– Driving a short distance uses very little fuel and, let’s face it, as a small island, we have few ‘long’ distances.
The emergency law does not say you should stay in your homes 24 hours a day, specify the location, type or duration of exercise and it doesn’t even mention driving.
Surely it would be better to accept that large open spaces such as our beaches are a safer place to exercise than the streets and find ways to help people to utilise them safely.
Why not use sandbags or bollards to reduce parking capacity and increase spacing and Combine that with signs and advice that say “if the parking is full – go home”.
Rather than assume people will behave badly based on assumptions and no evidence, why not give them the support they need to behave sensibly?
Well said
So we are not allowed to take our daily walk along the beach even though we obey the 2 meter rule.
Have you not seen the news? How can you be so ignorant? No, you are not allowed to drive to the beach.
But I can take my bike out and huff and puff over everyone.
As someone else on here has said, car parking charges should be suspended for the rest of the year to help the Island holiday industry to recover when this is all over.
What about private car parks like the ones at the train stations? Can’t buy a 3 month ticket, ticket office is closed. Using the machine makes it 50% more costly and have to use machine every 7 days. Had to move car and take up space in a local road. Can’t talk to anyone. These are the places that are really keen to catch you out and make money. I don’t want to park in someones road but forced to do so.
you need to re open carparks that you have shut then and now this lifting of useing cars to get to exercise areas as started get your asses in to gear and open them like yaverland so dog walkers can get out to the beach with there pets
https://www.aol.co.uk/news/2020/04/01/police-given-new-guidance-on-enforcing-coronavirus-lockdown-afte/?ncid=webmail
You are not allowed to drive to exercise. Do as you are told and, preferably, pull yourself together.
Read the link
What harm are you doing enclosed in your car? Far better than walking down the street with its narrow pavements. If you use your brains and find somewhere to park that doesn’t cause an obstruction and you are the only one there how can you pass on the bug?
Well said! We can walk our dogs and get exercise more safely in open areas than on the streets. We’re not completely stupid!
Use the little bungalow estate opposite Yaverland boat club. They are really friendly and don’t seem to mind unless you block them in of course.
Why take IOW council so long to do this, other councils did this last week. See island roads still doing essential – varnishing benches outside Poundland while pot holes and poor road signige ignored.