Visitors to Bath’s Royal Victoria Park will soon be able to enjoy a longer period of free parking, thanks to changes being introduced by Bath and North East Somerset Council.
The Conservative-run authority has announced that, from August, visitors to the park will be able to park for up to an hour free of charge.
Currently, visitors to Victoria Park have to pay 50p for an hour’s parking.
The new period of free parking is being introduced so that families can enjoy more time at the park free of charge, and will come in to effect near the start of the school holidays once the statutory notice period has been undertaken.
By introducing this new period of free-parking, Conservatives will also be honouring a commitment made prior to last year’s local elections to review the controversial parking charges that were introduced by the Council’s then Liberal Democrat administration in 2013.
As well as introducing an hour’s free parking at Victoria Park, last autumn Conservatives also cut the cost of evening parking at Bath’s Charlotte Street car park from £5.40 to £1.50 after 6pm.
Councillor Anthony Clarke (Cons, Lansdown), the Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport, said: “Royal Victoria Park is one of the finest parks in the country, and we believe it should be as convenient as possible for local people to visit the park and enjoy its facilities.
“I’m therefore delighted to confirm that from August we will be introducing an hour’s free parking at Victoria Park, so that local families can make the most of the park over the summer.
“In doing so we are also delivering on our commitment to review the charging regime introduced by the Council’s previous Liberal Democrat administration.
“In addition to this cut in parking charges, we have also been reviewing the periods of maximum-stay in the park. At the moment, many of the parking bays are limited to a maximum stay of just 2-hours.
“We are therefore planning to extend the maximum 4-hour stay across the whole of the park to allow more people to enjoy the park and nearby amenities for longer.”
