Have your say on Preston City Centre parking proposals

The proposals aim to better manage the network, support the flow of people in the city, encourage other forms of active travel and encourage more people to use the city car parks.

Limited on-street parking is available around the city centre, which is designed for short stay visits to the centre. These spaces are in key city centre locations and therefore attract high demand by the public.

As such, we continue to ensure that our on-street charges exceed the off-street charges to encourage use of the car parks. There are several city centre car parks including them Preston City Council-run Avenham multistorey, Hill Street, Trinity Square and Penny Street, alongside the County Council bus station car park.

On-street charges are regularly reviewed to ensure we are achieving our traffic management aims. Following the latest review, each tariff band on-street is being increased to maintain the gap over car park charges.

As a result of this review, proposals have been put forward to introduce on-street parking charges on Sundays. On-street pay-and-display charges typically do not apply on Sundays and this is due to it historically being quieter than the other days of the week. This has not been the case for many years, however, with Sunday becoming increasingly one of the busiest days of the week.

In addition to Sunday charges, it is being proposed to increase the city centre short term pay and display by introducing bays on Garden Street, Winckley Square West and Guildhall Street, along with making the limited waiting on Cross Street and part of Camden Place pay and display to bring it into line with the rest of the city parking offer.

Changes are also being proposed to support residents who live in the city. Residents' parking permit schemes have been overhauled to protect the existing residents from new builds or property conversions, which can result in hundreds of permits appearing. Residents have also requested that some little used pay and display bays be converted to permit bays, which we are now undertaking.

County Councillor Rupert Swarbrick, cabinet member for highways and transport, Lancashire County Council, said:  "These proposed changes will allow us to manage the road network more effectively and encourage more people to use the cheaper car parks.

"The introduction of on-street parking charges on a Sunday will contribute to this effort and will support the flow of customers in the city on what is often the second busiest day of the week.

"We've also listened to the needs of city centre residents and have proposed changes that maintain the delicate balance of permits vs spaces that currently exists."

For more information visit: Permanent proposed, pedestrian crossings, road humps, Speed Limit Orders and Traffic Regulation Orders - Lancashire County Council