Cheshire East Council is seeking views on proposed changes to the borough's parking arrangements, which aim to improve fairness and consistency across its towns including Sandbach. 

The statutory consultation opened this week (20 September) and will run for six weeks until 1 November 2023. We revealed in July here how a consultation process was afoot.

Parking charges have only been increased once since Cheshire East was formed in 2009. This is no longer sustainable as the rate of inflation means that the costs of maintaining, managing and operating car parks has significantly increased. 

Parking income can help to support other services in the borough – ranging from highway improvements, subsidised bus services and active travel schemes. 

The council is proposing four key initiatives, which would deliver greater consistency of tariffs and support town centre vitality.

Parking proposals to be consulted on include:

• Introduce parking charges in some car parks where parking is currently free.
• Increase current parking charges by the rate of inflation in some car parks across the borough.
• Reducing parking charges in some car parks due to their location and usage.
• Changes to the limited waiting bay periods at certain on-street locations.

The parking proposals do not affect Blue Badge holders in any way. 

The council will assess the likelihood of parked cars being displaced from car parks and will develop options to mitigate these impacts.

Councillor Craig Browne, Cheshire East Council deputy leader and chair of the council's highways and transport committee, said: "The inherited legacy where some residents pay to park and others do not has caused a sense of unfairness.

"The council is proposing to address this imbalance – taking into account each town's characteristics – while also responding to the higher costs of maintaining our car parks, which require regular resurfacing, improved lighting and markings and the installation of EV charging points.

"It is important to us that we get as much feedback as possible to these proposals and I hope our residents, and businesses, will take this opportunity to feed into this consultation."

The council is set to report financial pressures of £12.8m against its 2023/24 budget. Savings have already been identified to reduce this from £26.6M. 

The outcome of the consultation will be considered by the council's highways and transport committee in January 2024, before any decisions are made.

View the proposals online or at your local library by appointment. Please do not simply turn up.

Representations to the proposals must be emailed. 

Alternatively, write to: Parking services manager, Cheshire East Council, Delamere House, Delamere Street, Crewe, CW1 2LL 

Full details of parking finances in Cheshire East, including the parking services annual report.