Car Park Charges

A meeting took place on Tuesday between representatives of the Transport and Highways Department of Cheshire East Council, ANSA and representatives of a number of village bodies and organisations. The meeting was facilitated by Councillor Rachel Bailey.

Ed – this article deals only with the discussion relating to car park charges – the points about the bus service changes will be the subject of a future article.

AudlemOnline understands that the discussions were candid and wide-ranging on all sides, and clarification of the changes to car parking on the Cheshire Street car park was provided – the main points are summarised below :

• Charges will come into effect on 2nd December 2024, subject to the ticket machine being installed. Installation is due to take place at the end of next week (29th November – 1st December) and any delay to charges coming into force will be made clear by a notice on the existing Terms and Conditions board at the entrance to the car park.
• Charges will apply between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Saturday, however Audlem will be included in the "Free after Three" concession which means that parking will be free after 3.00pm.
• "Free after Three" is a concession and not part of the Parking Order, so it can be withdrawn in the future, but there are no foreseeable plans to withdraw the concession so it is likely to remain in place for some time to come.
• The consultation into evening and Sunday charges has received over 2000 representations and no decision has yet been made about any extension of the charging, but village representatives took the opportunity to reinforce the likely adverse effects of extended car park charges.
• If extended charging is implemented, the "Free after Three" concession means that parking charges on Cheshire Street will operate every day, but only until 3.00pm.
• Following representation and discussion, the CE officers agreed to look again at the areas of the village where residents' may apply for permits to park on the Cheshire Street car park.
• Residents whose vehicles qualify may be issued with a permit at a cost of £80 for the first car and £95 for a second car. Not everyone within the identified areas will qualify for a permit and it is important to read carefully the conditions, which can be found here.
• It will be possible to buy "scratch card" permits to enable visitors to park on the Cheshire Street car park without charge.
• Enforcement of the parking charges and conditions will be by Civil Enforcement Officers (formerly known as Traffic Wardens) who work on a rota basis 7 days a week from 6am to 10pm.
• Following points raised on behalf of ASET, it was confirmed that consideration will be given to closing the car park to enable community events like Party on the Park, the Transport Festival and other village events to take place, on application to Cheshire East and a discussion took place about the mechanics of such applications and potential costs of closing the car park for village events. The applications are likely to be coordinated and made to Cheshire East by the Parish Council.

A general discussion took place concerning the potential for the village taking over the running of the car park (one parish in Cheshire East has already gone down that route).