Dorset Council trial to reduce car parking charges

Dorset Council has that car parking charges at three car parks in tourist areas will be reduced for a trial period running from July 1 until October 31.

The car parks are Swannery car park in Weymouth, West Bay Road in West Bay, and Charmouth Road in Lyme Regis. 

It comes after a recent pledge from the Liberal Democrats to review car parking fees after taking control of the council following the local elections in May.

READ MORE: Weymouth traders welcome council review to car park charges

In early 2023 Dorset Council drastically increased the price of using council car parks at popular tourist towns.

Nigel Sims-Duff, owns the Palm House Café in Weymouth, located next to two council-owned car parks in Melcombe Regis and labelled the charges as excessive and unreasonable. (Image: Tom Lawrence)

The decision caused uproar with traders fearing visitors would be put off from visiting the coast due to the sheer price of parking.

Businessman Nigel Sims-Duff, who owns the Palm House Café in Weymouth, labelled the charges as "excessive and unreasonable" and subsequently started a petition to reduce them. 

Nigel Sims-Duff with the petition (Image: Nigel Sims-Duff)

Mr Sims-Duff said he is "delighted" with this news and while he had hoped other car parks in Weymouth would be included, he thinks this is a great step forward for Weymouth. 

He said: "It's great news. I’m delighted that the new council are supporting local residents and businesses in each town.

"It’s a recognition of the people who have signed the petition last year to say how unfair the new pricing policy was in each town. To have this recognised by the new Lib Dem council, is fantastic news."

 “I am pleased the main visitor car park price has been halved but would have appreciated if other high price car park like Melcombe Regis car park and Lodmoor car park were also reduced. This would prevent the chance of a high concentration of people in the swannery which would mean people would end up having to use the higher price ones.

“But it’s great news at this stage. Thank you to everyone who’s signed the petition and all the businesses who have supported it.”

Currently, the tariffs in these car parks are:

 Up to 30 minutes: £1.50
 Up to 1 hour: £3
 Up to 2 hours: £4.50
 Up to 3 hours: £6
 Up to 4 hours: £7.50
 Up to 10 hours: £15
The new rates starting from July 1 will be:

 Up to 30 minutes: £0.80
 Up to 1 hour: £1.50
 Up to 2 hours: £2.30
 Up to 3 hours: £3.30
 Up to 4 hours: £5.30
 Up to 10 hours: £9

Charmouth Road car park in Lyme Regis and West Bay Road car park in West Bay will see a reduction in charges as part of the trial (Image: Google Maps)

At the end of the trial, the charges will remain the same but revert to the usual off-peak rate in line with the seasonal tariff change in other Dorset Council car parks.

Dorset Council says the basis for the trial is for the authority to understand the impact through numbers using the car parks, impact on the highway network, and the financial impact on the council’s budget.

A survey will also be taking place to help gather data on use of the car parks during the trial.

President of Weymouth and Portland's Chamber of Commerce, Paul Appleby also describes this as "fantastic news" and believes businesses will "directly benefit" from it. 

He said: “The chamber welcomes the idea and we hope the trial is a tremendous success. 

"I’m very glad as they said they would look at it and they have already made a change. I hope that they are measuring the impact of these reductions somehow so that they know if there’s an uptake in business in the area.”

“I think businesses around swannery car park can only do well from this and hope the council will measure the change for the future."