South Hams District Council have launched a public consultation on a proposal to increase car parking charges across South Hams from April 2025. The proposal introduces a “differential parking” scheme with one price for residents and another for visitors. The consultation closes at 5pm on 5 January 2025.
This proposal will affect you if:
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- you park in any South Hams District Council (SHDC) owned car parks for any reason, you’ll face higher charges as all parking prices are increasing
- you drive to the Leisure Centre or have an appointment at the Health & Wellbeing Centre, you’ll pay more as parking prices for residents are rising
- you employ staff who rely on SHDC car parks, their cost of working in the town will increase
- you are a worker living outside South Hams and use SHDC car parks, you’ll be charged visitor rates, making commuting more expensive
- you own or manage a business or organisation that depends on visitors parking in SHDC car parks, the higher parking fees may discourage visits, impacting your revenue
- you are a car park permit holder, you’ll also face increased costs as permit prices are going up
Please make your voice heard! The public consultation closes on 5 JANUARY 2025. Log your response via this link. Only comments via this link will be considered by SHDC so please do take the time to respond; if you have a view please don’t just vent on Social Media, it won’t be considered.
The key points for your attention are:
- the Mayor’s Avenue Car Park in Dartmouth remains the highest priced car park in South Hams for 4 Hours Parking in High Season (£1 more than Salcombe or Kingsbridge’s most expensive for Visitors, £2 more than Totnes’ most expensive for Visitors and £2.00, £2.00 and £2.50 respectively more expensive for Residents)
- according to SHDC Proposal Since April 2021, the Consumer Price Index has increased by 22%. The proposed price increases for Dartmouth’s car parks range from 17% to 50% for Residents and 33% and 114% for Visitors (with £ increases ranging from 30p on a 1 hour parking session in Mayor’s Avenue in Low Season to a £2.50 increase on All Day at Park & Ride in High Season)
- the Residents scheme is only open to South Hams Residents. Charged at a £5 per vehicle per year admin fee, the scheme will be accessible via the cashless car parking app (eg Ringo). Those who do not have a smart phone – SHDC estimate this to be around 30% of car park users – will get 30 minutes more parking instead of the discounted residents rate
- the proposal does not include any concessions for workers. Anyone from outside the South Hams district who works in Dartmouth (or any other South Hams town) will have to pay the Visitor tariffs
- it is not just Dartmouth car parks that are affected, all 40 SHDC car parks are included in the proposal. Dartmouth Residents who visit or work in other South Hams towns will see an increase in car parking charges (check the price increases in your destination car park here look for Visitors prices in the left column and Residents in the right column)
- permit prices in the town’s car parks are proposed to increase by between 16% and 32% – see here for new prices
TABLES for current and proposed changes in tariff
Chamber of Commerce Response
Impact on economic vitality: The Chamber of Commerce is deeply concerned that the proposed changes will have a negative impact on our town centre businesses. As a visitor economy we rely on visitors to come and spend time and money here to ensure our town thrives. At the current time Dartmouth (and other towns across Devon) are seeing lower visitor footfall, particularly outside of peak season, connected to the continued cost of living crisis. Some businesses are also reporting a decline in revenue compared to the previous year. In this current context, we strongly believe that increasing car parking charges would harm our town’s economic vitality.
Disadvantaging workers: There is no workers scheme proposed for South Hams workers. This raises concern about the impact of increased car parking charges on employment. Dartmouth relies heavily on workers in the hospitality and retail industry in our visitor economy, many of whom earn the National Living Wage. Living and working in our rural area poses challenges from limited public transport services leaving many people reliant on cars for their daily travel. Travelling to Dartmouth for work is already expensive, and businesses report that some staff are turning down job offers due to the high cost of commuting to Dartmouth. The Chamber believes that higher parking charges will disproportionately affect workers—not only those employed in Dartmouth but also Dartmouth residents who commute to jobs in other local towns and rely on SHDC car parks.
Inequality and the perception of Dartmouth: It would seem that South Hams District Council assumes that both residents and visitors to Dartmouth can absorb the proposed increases, believing the market to be inelastic. However, while SHDC’s parking revenues at Mayors Avenue have remained steady in 2023/24, the Park & Ride has experienced a decline in usage. Additionally, there was a noticeable increase in the availability of on-street parking within the town during the summer season. More empty spaces than usual were observed during peak times, suggesting a decrease in the number of cars in town.
Open letter to SHDC as part of the Public Consultation
We will be writing to SHDC as part of the public consultation so do please let us know your concerns so that we can get this across in our letter, but please also log your response directly with SHDC.
Your response to the Public Consultation
We encourage businesses, workers, residents and local organisations to voice their opinions as part of the public consultation to ensure your view is considered by the South Hams Executive Committee in January 2025. Please log your views now. The public consultation closes on 5 January 2025.
Please make your voice heard! The public consultation closes AT 5PM ON 5 JANUARY 2025. Please log your response via this link.