A new county-wide parking charges structure agreed by Somerset Council’s Executive in March is a step closer to being implemented.
The Somerset Parking Review and Charging Principles Framework is bringing a fair approach to parking fees in the county, ironing out disparities in practice between different towns, whilst supporting local businesses and residents.
The new tariffs for each car park could be introduced in December pending formal approval by Somerset Council’s Executive in September.
Information gathered over the last few months on all the council’s car parks where charges currently apply has been used to assess each site and put them into a new five-tiered pricing structure. All car parks are on a sliding scale of fees depending on location and usage.
The tiers range from 1 for high demand car parks in town centres to 4 for rural/village locations which will maintain free parking for the first hour, and 5 for custom sites that do not clearly fit into the other tiers, e.g. residential, seasonal, EV etc.
Charges will apply seven days a week to all existing chargeable car parks and the new tariffs include the annual review of fees and charges which have not changed since 2025.
There will be no changes at this time to free car parks or current on-street parking arrangements in towns until further engagement with communities, local members and businesses has been undertaken from October.
Councillor Richard Wilkins, Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Highways and Transport said:
This is fundamentally about fairness and consistency across Somerset.
As a unitary authority we inherited a range of different practices in different towns. It is only right that all our car parks are part of the same charging structure, where the same rules are applied to everyone.
Within the different tiers there is plenty of room to accommodate different types of car park and usage, to reflect the role of each car park in supporting the local economy, including free provision for some of the time, as well as lower tariffs in less premium and more rural areas.
Tariffs at the busier end of the spectrum in bigger centres are aimed at encouraging turnover and sustainable travel into Somerset’s towns.
We use parking fees and charges to support local economies, help minimise the adverse environmental impacts of traffic and support the operation of the parking service.
The report is being reviewed by the Climate, Environment and Place Scrutiny Committee next week (3 September), and will go to Executive for approval on 23 September. Whilst the charging tiers have already been agreed in principle, specific tariffs for each tier, and a decision on which tier each car park will be put into needs formal approval by Executive. This will be followed by the publication of a new Off-Street Parking Places Order with a 21-day statutory notice period during which objections can be registered and considered.
The scrutiny papers and relevant charging tiers for car parks can be viewed here.
A further recommendation for the Executive Committee on 23 September will be that further engagement commences on free car parks across Somerset, while engagement with stakeholders on on-street parking will continue throughout 2027.
