Evening parking fees passed at Chichester entertainment venues

Northgate and New Park car parks will have new charging from 6-8pm from April 1

A final referral back to Chichester District Cabinet saw the one-year trial to extend charging hours to 8pm approved on Tuesday.

Concerns from the overview and scrutiny committee earlier this month that the scheme targeted two city centre car parks were defended by cabinet member for commercial services Gillian Keegan.

She said parking was always controversial and any delay would cut into the £100,000 the trial was expected to earn.

The impact of fees on the night-time economy and consumer behaviour will be monitored by the city parking forum.

Speaking to the Observer after the meeting, Cllr Richard Plowman, who initiated the call-in, said it was a ‘very poor decision’.

He said: “It’s undemocratic. The whole point about calling it in was to actually get a good debate and do something different and all they’ve done is reconfirm what they’ve said.”

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