Kettering car parking charges to be reviewed next year

Charges for using council-run car parks in Kettering will be reviewed next year.
Wadcroft car park, Kettering. April 2014 NNL-140417-092730001Wadcroft car park, Kettering. April 2014 NNL-140417-092730001
Wadcroft car park, Kettering. April 2014 NNL-140417-092730001

Shoppers currently have to pay £6 for staying for more than three hours in either the London Road, Municipal Offices, Commercial Road, Wadcroft, Queen Street or School Lane car parks.

The charges were branded ‘extortionate’ by Labour’s Clark Mitchell earlier this year, with parking in nearby Wellingborough free.

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Kettering Council’s portfolio holder for town centres Cllr Mark Dearing (Con, Desborough Loatland) says there will be a review next year, potentially in March or April.

He said: “There will be a review next year on parking and we’ve got to take that seriously.

“I think everyone has a different view on it but we reduced it last time and we would look to see if we could do that depending on the finances again for the review next year.

“We want to encourage people to stay longer so this is why we’ll have the review on car park charges.

“It’s important to listen to what the people say.

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“I’m not convinced that having completely no charges whatsoever [like Wellingborough] works but everyone has got a different view on it.”

Parking on Sundays and Bank Holidays is currently free, with further free parking days near Christmas for shoppers.

Cllr Dearing added that that initiative is something the council is looking to continue.

He said: “One of the things we will be doing next year again is having the free parking days for people, I think that’s important when they’re coming at Christmas time.

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“We want to get the amount of people in we can and I think offering those sorts of free days, while it might cost the council money, is worth doing because it does bring the extra people in.

“When you look at all the car parks Kettering Council owns some of them, we don’t own all of them.

“We don’t have any meters on the roads, we still have on-road parking, and that’s free for people.”