Shropshire Council has today announced that car parking charges are to rise across the county, including in Ludlow. Charges will increase for Zone A and Zone B on street parking. Off street parking at Castle Street and Galdeford A (upper deck) will also increase. Charges for Galdeford B (lower decks) and Smithfield car parks will remain the same.
The new charges will take effect on 3 November 2025, with the statutory notice due to be published on 8 October.
- Red Zone (Band 2): Increase from £2.00 an hour to £2.80 an hour (£1.40 an hour on Sundays and bank holidays).
- Castle Street car park (Band 3): Increase from £1.20 an hour to £1.40 an hour (70p an hour on Sundays and bank holidays).
- Blue Zone (Band 4): Increase from 80p an hour to £1.20 an hour (and remain free on Sundays and bank holidays).
- Galdeford Zone A (Upper) (Band 5): Increase from 60p an hour to 70p an hour (and remain free on Sundays and bank holidays).
- Galdeford Zone B (Lower), Smithfield (Band 6): No increase.
Further afield, on-streets charges in Shrewsbury town centre will rise to £3.60 an hour. Full details.
These increases were agreed by the last Conservative administration in December 2024 though increases are lower. As the last administration ran out of steam, it failed the implement the charging increase despite the council’s desperate financial position.
The reasoning for the increase is to keep up with inflation and to ensure that parking provision remains sustainable and self-financing. Money generated from car parks will be used to maintain the car parks and the Shrewsbury park and ride service.
Plans to increase charges began under the last administration and have been driven by the needs of Shrewsbury to reduce traffic in the town centre. Shrewsbury has a park and ride service with a 12-minute frequency and is more suited to driving a modal shift from cars to buses by increasing car parking charges. Because charges in Shrewsbury go up, they also go up in Ludlow. This link needs to be broken and the new administration must abandon the one charge fits all policy for parking charges.
As always, there is no recognition that Ludlow has a park and ride service with a car park that desperately needs upgrading. This is disappointing as an improved Ludlow park and ride site would be a significant boost to the town’s economy and take more traffic of the streets of our historic town.
1) Keeping up with inflation fuels inflation, what a stupid reason.
2) Inflation is less than 4% but the increases are in double figures, somebody needs to go back to school.
3) Will the revenue be ring fenced for parking?
As our representative please object to these unjustified increases.
I have to say I’m disappointed in the new Council on this. The biggest bone of contention under the dreadful Tory Unitary Council was that our market towns suffer more pain and less gain with this centralised parking system that retains all revenue from parking payments rather than, at the very least, sharing it with the already cash strapped Town Councils to be used for the benefit of their town and its residents. I expected the LibDems to take a more Democratic approach and agree with other comments that it is totally counterproductive to any recovery from COVID and inflation that is crippling our tourism industry. These days the primary source of any hope of recovery.
Start bringing real change. Not more of the same.
Ludlow Town Council is not cash strapped by any stretch of the imagination. However, I agree fully that the parking system in Shropshire is centralised. We are committed for reviewing that but it can’t be done until we have been able to do more work. We should have a seperate system of charges for each town. At the moment, when Shrewsbury charges more, Ludlow must charge more. There is a strong case for a hike in charges in the Loop but it’s weak in Ludlow.
My preferred option is for LTC to take over the car parks. Discussions on devolution begin this month (we are behind other councils). It will be up to Ludlow town councillors to step up and bite the bullet. Although I am not dreaming of lower parking charges, I think we could use seasonal pricing. There are times when people will pay a premium to get into Ludlow and times when we desperately need to get people in.
Poor Ludlow!
Andy – this is what you wrote on this forum on the 17th of May 2022:
“Yet Shropshire Council wants to increase car parking charges at the very point when people have less to spend on our high streets.
Shropshire Council argues that costs must increase with inflation. I don’t buy that argument. The council has not made a case for additional funding for the car parks and the team that supports them. The largely automated system of charging for parking on streets and in car parks has reduced costs. The council should be cutting its budget not heaping more costs on shoppers, tourists and workers.
Our retail and visitor economies were hit hard during the pandemic. Ludlow is bouncing back. The last thing we need is a hike in car parking charges.”
If it was wrong for a Tory-controlled council to increase charges, then it is wrong for a Liberal-controlled council to do so. Actions count louder than words….
I am not in charge of car parking. There was no consultation on this increase which was agreed last year so I had no chance to put views of behalf of Ludlow. The increase was approved by cabinet last December when the Tories were in power. Us Lib Dems had called in the decision to scrutiny the previous February. This is what the Tories said at the end of the scrutiny process:
“A consultation of individual councillors across the County was not considered appropriate as the report addresses a Countywide matter. Public consultation was also deemed unnecessary, as objections would likely be the only feedback received.”
In other words, they were not prepared to listen to what anyone thought.
If you read the article, you will see I don’t say I am in favour of the increase. On the plus side, the proposed Tory increases for Smithfield and Galdeford B have been cancelled. On the negative side, charges are going up in our short term car parks because they are going up in Shrewsbury. As I have said in response to Marilyn Gaunt, I want to break that link which I have opposed since its inception. I want charges to be decided locally. I’d prefer the car parks to be run locally but that is down to Ludlow Town Council to make a pitch when they discuss service transfer from Shropshire Council.
I will be monitoring where the money goes to ensure that our car parks are repaired. I also want the Eco Park park and ride site to be upgraded.