New increases to car parking charges in Reading have been approved by the council.

The parking fee changes, mostly increases between 10p and £1.50, were approved at Thursday’s Traffic Management sub-committee, subject to consultation.

If there are no objections, the plans will go ahead.

READ MORE: The roads in east Reading where humps and other measures will be introduced to tackle speeding

If members of the public write to the council to oppose the proposals, the committee will have to decide on the plans for a second time, taking into account concerns from residents.

Car park tariffs and season tickets have been increased along with on street pay and display charges.

The biggest increase is to one of the season tickets, which will go up by £930.

The changes are the first since 2019.

READ MORE: Reading Borough Council announces changes to car park tariffs

Simon Beasley, network and parking manager at RBC, explained the changes, saying: “Even the smallest and most modest changes can have an impact on our income.

“We have to be realistic as well. We need to make sure the Reading town centre, in ordinary circumstances, remains competitive.

“And we don’t want to put anyone off coming into Reading but there is the backdrop of climate change and trying to encourage people to use public transport more and have less dependency on their vehicles.”

Lib Dem councillor Ricky Duveen asked how much cash the increases would produce in additional income, suggesting the prices could be increased further, but Mr Beasley was not able to give a figure.

Councillor Tony Page, lead member for Transport, explained that it is difficult to estimate what income the changes will bring in given the current Covid-19 situation.

We have summarised the changes but if you want more details on a specific car park or road, you can see the full breakdown of the changes here.

Car park increases

This is the second set of changes since the council took control of eight car parks from NCP in October 2018.

At Broad Street Mall prices will increase by 10-20p, while tariffs at Queens Road will go up by 10p, except for ‘Up to 30 minutes’, which will remain free on weekdays.

Additionally, the ‘Up to 30 minutes’ fee on weekends will go up from £1 to £2.20, according to the report, but the report also says there will be change to this fee.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has approached the council for clarification on this matter.

Cattle Market sees prices going up by 10-20p, except for ‘Sunday-Friday, Up to 24 hours’, which will rise by £1, and Saturday’s night rate (18:00-06:00), which will go down by £1.

Hills Meadow prices will go up between 10p and £1, while a new ‘Up to 5 hours’ rate of £6 has been introduced. Kings Meadow also has the new £6 rate and price increases between 10p and £1.

Parking will remain free for up to 30 minutes at Chester Street, while prices will go up by between 10p and 50p for other lengths of stay.

Prices will go up by between 10p and £1.50 at Recreation Road, with the biggest increase to the ‘Up to 12 hours’ rate. Sunday parking will remain free, while a new £7 ‘Up to 24 hours’ tariff will be introduced.

At Dunstall Close, parking will remain free for up to 30 minutes, while tariffs will go up by between 10p and £1.50 and Sunday parking will remain free.

Thames Side Promenade parking will remain free for up to 2 hours and on Sundays, while charges for up to 3, 4 and 5 hours will rise by 30-50p.

Costs at the Civic will go up by 30p for stays up to an hour and 50p for stays up to 4 and 6 hours,  with no changes for other lengths of stay.

And finally, Kensington Road charges will remain free for up to 2 hours and go up by 30-50p for longer stays.

Season tickets

Moving on to season tickets, where there are changes at Hills Meadow, Kings Meadow, Civic B and Cattle Market.

There will be a big increase to the cost of 12-month season tickets at Kings Meadow, rising from £1,400 to £2,330. The council will also introduce new monthly (£243) and quarterly (£699) season tickets at Kings Meadow.

Hills Meadow will get all-new season tickets, at £219 monthly, £629 quarterly and £2,097 for a year.

At Civic B, monthly tickets will go up from £125 to £135 and quarterly tickets from £360 to £390, with yearly tickets remaining at £1,200.

And finally, Cattle Market monthly tickets will go up from £120 to £130, and quarterly tickets will rise from £330 to £358, with no change to yearly tickets (£1,300).

On-street parking

On-street parking will go up by between 20p and £2.80 on the following roads, depending on the length of stay: Blagrave Street, Castle Street, Cheapside, Crossland Road, Fobney Street, Friar Street, Garrard Street, Great Nollys Street, Greyfriars Road, Hosier Street, Howard Street, Northfield Road, Oxford Road Bridge, Sackville Road, St Mary’s Butts, Stanshaw Road, The Forbury, Thorn Street, Vachel Road, Valpy Street and Weldale Street.

20-minute stays will go from 70p to 90p on these roads, while 2-hour stays will go up from £3.30 to £6, with the increases rising incrementally for longer stays.

There will also be smaller increases of just 10p on the following roads: Abbey Street, Deansgate Road, East Street, Kenavon Drive, London Street, Sidmouth Street.

There will be no changes on the following roads (in the hospital and university area): Addington Road, Alexandra Road, Allcroft Road, Cintra avenue, Denmark Road, Eldon Square, Elmhurst Road, Erleigh Road, Kendrick Road, Morgan Road, Pepper Lane, Redlands Road and Upper Redlands Road.