Plans aim to give everyone a fair chance to find a parking space

The county council regulates on-street parking across the county, including restrictions needed for safety, residents' parking schemes, and on-street pay and display parking, which only operates in the busy city centres of Lancaster and Preston.

If the proposals are agreed, pay and display prices in Lancaster and Preston will also rise to encourage people to use off-street car parks as their first preference. In Preston pay and display parking will also operate on a Sunday, bringing it into line with most retailers and off-street car parks, which operate 7 days a week.

The report to Lancashire County Council's cabinet due to meet on Thursday 7 September details a widescale review of on-street parking in and around Preston city centre, including nearby areas such as Avenham, Winckley Square, Fishwick, Broadgate, St Mark's Road and Queens Road, which are mainly residential.

It outlines the results of recent public consultations on proposals for changes on a number of streets, which aim to increase the number of spaces available for residents' permit parking schemes by 158 spaces, and increase the availability of short-term pay and display parking by 30 spaces.

County Councillor Scott Smith, lead member for highways and active travel, said: "There is always more demand to park on-street than the number of spaces available in busy city centres, which is why we have to regulate parking to ensure safety, and balance the needs of everyone who wants to park.

"Over recent months we've been consulting on proposed changes to parking in Preston in response to the way areas of the city have evolved over a number of years, and demand for parking has changed as a result.

"The key factors are that some properties have been converted to flats, which has increased the demand on existing residential parking schemes, while some new businesses have opened, and others have closed, or become residential properties.

"Meanwhile demand for short-term parking on-street from people wanting to visit Preston city centre is as high as ever.

"There will never be a perfect solution to balancing the demands for on-street parking, however these plans aim to improve on what we have at the moment, and make as many spaces available as possible while ensuring safety.

"On-street parking always has some impact on the movement of traffic and, as such, we work on the principle that people should be encouraged to use off-street car parks as their first preference. Our plans to tweak pay and display prices in Preston and Lancaster, and to operate Preston's pay and display scheme 7 days a week, will ensure our parking offer across both cities is consistent and balanced.  

"I'm grateful to everyone who has responded to the various consultations to help us to make these proposals work for everyone, and I know that cabinet will consider this report very carefully."