Parking fee cuts hope to clear streets

Charges are to be cut on a busy Kidderminster car park to stop long-term problems with commuters' vehicles clogging narrow town streets, it has been announced.

Prices will be slashed to £2.50 from £3.60 from October.

Wyre Forest District Council has approved the move for Comberton Place car park near Kidderminster Railway Station on Comberton Hill.

Residents living near to the station in Lea Street and Lawn Street complained commuters were leaving their cars outside their homes to dodge the charges.

They hope reducing the fee will be an incentive for commuters to use the council car park rather than continue to park on streets. But traders and residents say they are not yet convinced the reduction will solve the problem.

Problems have been caused as the station's own car park fills up quickly during the morning and drivers are unwilling to pay up to £74 a month to leave their car on the council-run car park. Instead they are leaving their cars in narrow streets nearby.

Charges at other car parks in the town will rise to £3.70 from the present £3.60 in October. Roy Hart, who runs the CB Radio Shop in Lea Street, said he had been trading for 28 years and problems with car parking had been an issue for a very long time.