An increase in the cost of parking in Dorset Council’s car parks will be limited to busy tourist areas. The rates will be seasonal, with some only increasing for the spring/summer period. The changes will come into effect from 28 April 2023.
Some on-street pay and display rates will increase for non-permit holders on busy seafront roads. Prices in the council’s other car parks will not rise, except for some 6 hour stays in multi-use car park areas used by larger vehicles such as coaches, large motorhomes and lorries.
The full list of new rates can be found on the Dorset Council website.
Other prices frozen
There will be no increase in the cost of on-street parking permits for residents, and Short Stay and Flexi car park permit prices remain the same, offering a money-saving option for frequent users, whether residents, businesses or workers.
Tickets purchased in the afternoon for longer than the chargeable period in that day will roll over into the next day, after free overnight parking.
Car park charging periods will not change, remaining at 8am to 6pm, Monday to Sunday, inclusive, unless specified as 24 hours.
Further improvements
Following feedback, new multi-day tickets will enable holiday makers to buy one ticket that can cover the whole of their stay, rather than having to purchase a new ticket every day.
A new three hour option in short stay car parks that were previously limited to two hours, will give more time for appointments, shopping and eating.
Income from car parking is re-invested into the running of the council’s parking service and the maintenance of the car parks and on-street parking places. Any surplus is spent on highway improvements and public transport.
Cllr Ray Bryan, Dorset Council’s Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment, said: “We have designed the tariff increases so they have the least impact on Dorset residents and workers, while bringing in extra income to help us meet the rising costs of running our parking service and maintaining our car parks.
“The increases are limited to those car parks mainly used by visitors to the area, and encourage people to stay longer to enjoy all Dorset has to offer. They also continue to provide good value for money; when setting the new prices, we ran a comparison with charges in neighbouring areas and similar visitor destinations and our car parks are still some of the cheapest.
“We have also frozen charges for residents’ permits and the prices of our short stay and flexi use car park permits are unchanged.”
Cllr Bryan continued: “We’ve made some good progress with parking since we became Dorset Council in 2019, standardising charges across the area, working with residents, town and parish councils and business organisations to take on their views when making the changes.”
Pay and display machines – upgrades
All car park and on-street pay and display machines are being replaced across the Dorset Council area, with completion this summer. This will improve reliability and provide a better service for residents and visitors.
The new machines provide customers with more payment options, including cash, card, Apple Pay and Google Pay and online app. Wi-Fi will also be improved in car parks with poor phone signals.
Cllr Bryan said: “We understand the importance of ensuring that all payment methods are as easy and convenient as possible, so we’re taking steps to address any potential connectivity issues. Any car parks with poor phone signal will be fitted with Wi-Fi hotspots, allowing customers to connect and make payment quickly and securely. Thank you for your continued support as we work to make these upgrades.”
A faster response to customer enquiries
Behind the scenes, the council has changed the way customers can enquire about parking-related matters, so queries are dealt with quickly.
Customer services now deals with non-complex queries giving the parking services team time to answer questions that need more specialist knowledge. The parking webpages have also improved, and include a new online form for tradespersons, speeding up the application process for permits.
More time for qualifying Blue Badge holders
In late 2022, a new permit was made available for qualifying Blue Badge holders, allowing them to park free of charge in the council’s car parks for up to three hours. The new Restricted Mobility Car Park Permit (RMCPP), which will need to be displayed alongside their Blue Badge, gives holders more time to complete their shopping and tasks in Dorset’s towns.
I think these increases are a disgrace. The council clearly wants to turn away visitors from places like Lyme Regis who rely for their income from visitors in the summer . While families are suffering from huge increases in the cost of living the council is simply making the matter worse and has no understanding of how residents and visitors have to watch their spending. Having to spend such a huge amount on parking will mean that the trades people in the affected towns will lose out as people either cut short their stays or simply don’t spend as much in shops and eating places.
Yet again, DCC overlords impose charges on areas that are reliant on visitors as their main source of income. Complete lackbof consultation and total arrogance. The sooner they are voted out the better for all
What are the new multi-day tickets that will enable holiday makers not have to purchase a new ticket every day? How mch and how many days?
Hi Keith, I have forwarded your question to our parking team at parkingtransformation@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk Best regards, Claire
Yet again the council are not thinking about locals who live year round in the seaside places. You are keeping us from coming into the town center during the holiday season by these outrageous increases in parking charges. Most locals live on a limited income. By these increases you discourage us from supporting local businesses in the downtown areas. Have you ever thought about giving locals a cut rate summer parking pass?
Permits are available to Dorset residents that significantly reduce the cost of parking in our car parks. Please read https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/parking/permits/apply-for-a-parking-permit
very relieved to see that the council parking machines will continue to accept cash!
The headline refers to protecting residents from parking rises, yet there is still no scheme to provide local residents with cheaper parking. A simple clock dial issued to local residents is all that is needed. It works elsewhere.
Permits are available to Dorset residents that significantly reduce the cost of parking in our car parks. Please read https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/parking/permits/apply-for-a-parking-permit
The trouble with increasing parking charges for visitors, its that it simply provides further financial incentive for people to park in nearby residential roads. That is, it makes the problem worse for residents, who would prefer people to park in the large designated visitor car parks.
Turn up at Portland Bill car park in a big, rusty builder’s van and you can park in the normal car park. Have the temerity to arrive in a normal size motor home and you’re squeezed in with, and pay the same as, 53 seater commercial coaches. Motor homes have used the main cp for years with no problems. But now they’re just seen as another money tree. One more nail in the tourist coffin.
I don’t understand how these increases ‘aim to limit impact on residents’. Could someone explain please. Areas that are favourites of tourists happen to have residents too and residents quite like using these car parks too whether it’s in their local town or another in Dorset that they would like to visit. And couldn’t residents also have a season ticket? We could pay a bit extra in council tax and get a parking badge for the year – simples! I can’t help thinking that residents come a poor third to commercial interests and tourists here. This just bears this out. (Or have I completely misunderstood?)
Permits are available to Dorset residents that significantly reduce the cost of parking in our car parks. Please read https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/parking/permits/apply-for-a-parking-permit
I don’t understand how these increases ‘aim to limit impact on residents’. Could someone explain please. Areas that are favourites of tourists happen to have residents too and residents quite like using these car parks too whether it’s in their local town or another in Dorset that they would like to visit. And couldn’t residents also have a season ticket? We could pay a bit extra in council tax and get a parking badge for the year – simples! I can’t help thinking that residents come a poor third to commercial interests and tourists here. This just bears this out. (Or have I completely misunderstood?) Did you consult the relevant local councils about each specific proposal before you instigated it? I don’t think you did about the changes to the parking charge on Swanage’s Shore Road.
Permits are available to Dorset residents that significantly reduce the cost of parking in our car parks. Please read https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/parking/permits/apply-for-a-parking-permit
Dorset council fail to provide residents of Wimborne a service and now is increasing the costs for residents. There is no bus service along the main road,Leigh Road, into Wimborne so fir those residents who are unable to make the 1.5 mile walk into the town and have to use their car, you now are fleecing those residents with increased charges. Why can’t the council provide an annual 3 hour parking card for less than £40 like NFC.
These increases are utterly disgraceful. Are you trying to kill the small businesses in the small, totally tourist dependent, areas such as Beaminster, Bridport and West Bay?
The shops will lose business as people can’t / won’t pay £9.30 for six hours.
We have already stopped going to West Bay after April because the charges are too high, this will make it worse. Businesses WILL lose out, but then, as you state, you are not affecting your heartland of the big towns such as Poole or Bournemouth in East Dorset, only those small communities in the West that you clearly despise and are determined will unfairly subsidise your much wealthier East Dorset residents. This is totally in line with your previous changes which also advesly impacted West Dorset over East Dorset.
You may have undertaken some research on other car parks, but you don’t state what that research included. Did you include impact on small businesses in smaller tourist areas? Or are you happy to ignore that? Please provide proof that you have considered the potential for detrimental impact on small businesses within these areas.
Research on other car parks -:Crewkerne still provides parking at 1 hour 65p and 2 hours 85p, and if you choose to shop in the Waitrose or Lidl car parks, some of that will be refunded. But I understand some areas of south Somerset actually have free parking. Whilst up in Hampshire recently, many of the car parks had free parking for half an hour or an hour, so the research must hedge towards East Devon where car parking charges are dear.
Helen – The comparison is with other tourist hot-spot car parks in Devon and the BCP area. There are still cheap/free car parks in towns and villages across Dorset.
Not that I agree with taking advantage of holiday makers, but what about people who live in or near the towns popular with tourists?
We used to go to West Bay for a Sunday morning breakfast treat. Now we go elsewhere to avoid the high parking charge. Sadly, it’s the businesses that will suffer.
Dorset council, you are just plain greedy. £3 an hour for parking in the main tourist car parks! Discriminating I’d call it. Families are struggling and now you penalise them by shortening their stay on the beaches at your expense. So now it’s going to be …… ‘no kids you can’t go to the beach today, we can’t afford it, play in the garden with a bucket of water’ or ‘no ice cream as I used the money for parking’ and what of the local businesses that rely on tourists? Well that is going to be interesting! If visitors can’t afford to park they certainly can’t afford to shop as well! Oh and don’t forget those in camper vans and and motor homes! Certainly hitting their pockets too! You may as well put up a placard ‘Visitors, only enter Dorset if you can afford the parking fees for summer’ Greed!
It’s £3 if using the car park for just an hour, which we’d argue most people don’t if they are visiting a tourist spot for a day. By contrast, 4 hours is £1.88 an hour, dropping to £1.50 an hour if staying a whole day. And we’d refute these charges are due to “greed” – the money made from parking charges goes straight back into parking and related Highways services (we legally cannot do anything else with it even if we wanted to) – James
It may not be greed but it’s still stupid and will have negative impact on business and tourist as well as locals. why should locals have to by a permit just to carry out their regular way of life or pay a premium. The permits are not cheap anyway . Very poor judgement in my view from Dorset council and it looks as though my views are shared by a large number of other residents.
I found the parking costs unreasonable. I live in a coastal town in South Wales which has plenty of tourists and charges for parking but nothing like this. To go to the sea life centre in Weymouth cost £15 for parking, then the next day visiting Weymouth town and going to Chesil spending a further £8 which was a couple of hours at each. £23 on parking for two days. I couldn’t see options for a multi-day ticket at any of the venues.
Very well put we have been coming to Dorset for many years now but recently have felt unwelcome as tourists by the rising parking costs and definitely don’t have so much cash to spend in the local businesses
My concern relates to the Rempstone Centre car park, Church Street, Wareham, this car park is the main car park used by Wareham and local area residents when they do their shopping, it is usually referred to as the Sainsbury car park. Out of the tourist season it is usually accessible, but on a sunny day during the season it is chaos as it was during the Easter week. By extending the parking period to 3 hours you are now effectively making it a cheap long stay car park which, once the tourist discover it , will make it even more difficult to find a place to park. I believe what you should have done was to reduce the max stay period not increase it, please reconsider this after all there are only 59 spaces and even now we have to queue & wait to find a space.
What about basic rate employees, most of whom are seasonal? At £260 the “significantly reduced” car parking pass is still way too expensive as it’s designed as an annual pass not just for the season so we end up paying for an additional 4/5 months we don’t need.
Basic rate of pay £10.42. Working 7 hours (unpaid lunch break) does not even cover cost of parking if you work 5 days a week. Takes two buses to get to work destination – none of them coinciding with start and end time. It’s a 2 hour round trip walk. Car share not an option due to end and start times being irregular. Please can you advise me of my options or do I really spend almost 20% of my pay on parking? Surely you don’t suggest the unthinkable solution of being dropped off by private vehicle and picked up 5/6 times a week. That wouldn’t fit in with the green policies you advocate but for me it’s the only cost effective option.
The Flexi stay car park permit can be purchased monthly at £25 a month – https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/parking/flexi-stay-car-park-permit