By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Motorists have had to pay out more than £110,000 in parking fines issued in Gloucester car parks so far this year.
A total of 2,750 fines had been issued during the current financial year in Gloucester City Council-owned car parks. This equates to £110,348.
These figures along with last year’s total were published last week after Councillor Sajid Patel (C, Barton and Tredworth) asked how much income the council has had from parking fines over the last two financial years.
Resources cabinet member Declan Wilson (LD, Hucclecote) said in his written response to the cabinet meeting on March 11 that the income was £124,050 from around 3,000 fines in 2024/25.
And the income from 2,750 fines as of March 7 during the current financial year is £110,348.
Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Patel said: “With the council issuing so many fines in their city centre car parks, it’s little wonder why people are not returning to the city centre anymore and going elsewhere to do their shopping.
“They have killed off the city centre and sadly it’s the businesses that are suffering with lack of shoppers leading to more and more empty shops.
“It’s not rocket science, they should have listened to us and frozen or reduced parking charges to encourage more people into the city centre.”
City Council chiefs agreed at the same meeting to review the fees and charges in car parks with a view of introducing overnight fees for multi-storeys in the city centre.
The idea behind the move is to increase footfall in the evenings and boost the night time economy by providing safe, well kept and fully accessible car parks.
Cllr Wilson said: “We need to meet the challenge. The cost of running these car parks is increasing every year and we have an issue with the Eastgate and Kingswalk.
“They are closed at night time and I would like to get into a system whereby if you have a small evening charge that could provide us with finance to keep these car parks open and keep them in good condition.”
Council chiefs are also open to the idea of introducing a longer grace period and a discount for parking permits for small vehicles.