CHARGES will not be introduced at free car parks in Weymouth and Portland in what community leaders are hailing as a success for campaigners.

Hundreds of people signed a petition against moves to begin charging for free car parks after plans were published in August.

The borough council says that the 11 free car parks are not free, as they cost the taxpayer an average of £3,000 each to maintain per year.

The management committee threw out the plans at a meeting in August, with councillors saying ‘we need to be more imaginative’.

Now plans are to go before a meeting of the scrutiny and performance committee which recommend finding alternative uses for some of the free car parks, and that, in the meantime, not introducing charges for any of them.

The report does not state which car parks have been earmarked for other uses, but a survey carried out in September reveals how much each car park is used.

In Weymouth, the swimming pool car park is most frequently used with an average of 33 cars parked there in the morning and 21 in the afternoon and evening out of 93 spaces. Southill has 87 spaces and an average of between 17 and 19 cars parked there throughout the day.

At the other end of the scale, there was an average of just two cars parked at Overcombe, out of a total of 180 spaces.

On Portland Hambro and Fortuneswell car parks are most frequently used with occupancy rates from 71 per cent to 97 per cent.

The Masonic car park was the least used, with no cars parked there in the mornings, two in the afternoons and 10 in the evenings, out of a total 136 spaces.

Pete Barrow, chairman of Southill community project SPARK, handed a petition to the borough council last year signed by around 650 people against moves to introduce charges.

He said: “It’s a real result for us. They have changed their mind. I think they thought ‘we want to be supporting community groups’.”

Mr Barrow said he wants to encourage more people to use community facilities in Southill, and keeping the car parks free is a big part of that.
He added: “I think it costs the council around £5,000 a year to run, but if that means more people use community facilities and stay fit and healthy for longer, then it’s money well spent.”

Cllr Oz Kanji, who handed another petition to the management committee in August, also welcomed the move.

He said: “I do not see why the council can’t bear the cost of this. The car parks on Radipole Park Drive are a good thing for the community – they get people out and it’s somewhere where children can go and play.

“It’s an issue that people have really been up in arms over so we will just have to see what happens now.”

The committee will meet to discuss the report this evening, Thursday, February 16.