Car Parking Charges back at Multi Storey

Full parking charges are being reintroduced at Llanelli’s Murray Street Multi Storey Car Park.

The loss of income to Carmarthenshire County Council over 16 months has been more than a quarter of a million pounds.

Free parking for up to four hours will now only apply on Saturdays as opposed to all week.

Free parking at the multi storey car park for shoppers for four hours a day from 10am was introduced in early December 2011 to help compensate for the loss of 120 spaces at the former Island House car park which became the site for East Gate.

East Gate was delivered on time and council Minutes show that charges should have been reintroduced in October 2012 on the opening of a new car park at East Gate supporting the development with spaces for more than 200 cars and an additional 20 office worker spaces. Car parking charges have been in place there since it opened last year.

The free parking regime remained in place at the multi storey car park after the opening of East Gate following a request from Llanelli’s Chamber of Trade and Commerce for support for traders and shoppers while the town centre works in Stepney Street and Vaughan Street and the multi storey car park refurbishment works were ongoing.

The town centre work is largely completed and two of the seven levels of the car park are nearing completion.

The projected loss of revenue to last weekend based on income figures from the multi storey car park before the introduction of the free parking initiative is £290,000.

Bilingual signs are being erected at the entrance to the car park to advise motorists entering of the restored charging policy.

County executive board member for transport services Cllr Colin Evans said: “The free parking initiative was popular and necessary with the loss of car parking space while East gate was being delivered. The electronic monitoring of the multi storey has shown us that there is adequate parking across the town now because the signs were rarely indicating all spaces were taken.”

The free parking for up to four hours on Saturdays that applied before the full weekly free parking was introduced in 2011 will remain in place.

This dispensation will require the permanent off street parking order to be amended using statutory procedures.

The Saturday free parking initiative was enshrined in the permanent order in 2009 when the parking charges for all Llanelli town centre car park were increased on January 1 2010 and cannot otherwise be revoked.