Free car parking on Dudley Council car parks to start in October
Drivers will be able to park for free on all council-owned car parks for an hour in a Black Country borough, chiefs have announced.
Motorists have been parking for free for two hours on council car parks in Dudley, Brierley Hill, Halesowen and Sedgley since the launch of a pilot in April.
Now bosses are looking to make changes to the trial so one hour of free parking is offered on all council-owned car parks from October 1, including those in Stourbridge and Kingswinford. The two-hour trial will end on September 30.
Council bosses will roll out a one-hour trial across the whole borough first from October – with the intention of bringing it in permanently. Councillor Karen Shakespeare, cabinet member for environmental services, said: “We have listened to local people and anecdotally they have told us the towns are busier than ever. This is great news for business and something that we want to build on so we are now working up the finances to ensure we can make free parking a permanent offer.
“We are now going to adapt the trial to one hour and include all borough car parks so we can analyse this impact before introducing the best option for the borough.”
People who want to take advantage of the one-hour trial will need to print and display a free parking ticket from the machines already in place.
Normal charges will be in place for people parking for longer than one hour and return is prohibited within three hours of leaving.
Extra signs publicising the one-hour free parking trial will be displayed following its introduction.
For information on current parking tariffs in Dudley Council car parks visit dudley.gov.uk/resident/parking-roads
