It is no longer free to leave your car in town after 6pm
Council pay and display machine(Image: Liverpool Echo)
For years, the issue around whether free parking in Liverpool city centre would continue has lingered in the air. First announced in 2022, the city council waded through responses to various consultations until it was confirmed at long last that the local authority would extend parking charges.
As a result, drivers will now have to pay up until 11pm if they want to bring their car into the heart of town. This has been brought in despite almost 90% of people indicating they were against the move.
Signage and parking meters have been updated across the city centre to reflect the changes to the controlled parking zone (CPZ). Changes were first mooted around 2018.
Parking bays can now be used across the city centre any time of day but must be paid for between 7am and 11pm daily. Under a scheme adopted last year, 30 minutes of parking in the city centre has gone up from £1.20 to £2, while an hour will now cost £4, up from £2.40.
Cllr Dan Barrington, Liverpool Council cabinet member for transport and connectivity, said changes to the city’s parking offering would help deal with issues like the ongoing scourge of pavement parking.
Further changes also have to come into force as part of the amendments.
Other types of parking bays, such as loading and limited waiting bays, will also be amended to become pay and display, residents or disabled bays, or single yellow lines in the evenings.
Liverpool Council held consultations into extending parking charges in the city centre past their current 6pm cut-off(Image: Liverpool Echo)
The existing two-hour maximum stay limit for pay and display bays on roads within the Hope Street area has now been extended to four hours. This will include areas such as Hope Street, Blackburne Place, Falkner Street between Hope Street and Catherine Street, Maryland Street between Hope Street and South Hunter Street, and Caledonia Street.
This is different compared to what is known as the outer zone. While these bays are still chargeable between 7am and 11pm, the tariffs applied are not the same.
A Council parking meter outside the Cunard Building.(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Up to 30 minutes will set you back £1.50 while an hour costs £3. A two-hour maximum stay will cost £5.
The proposed extended hours inside the CPZ will require additional enforcement, with revenues expected to bring in almost £240,000 until parking behaviours improved. The cost of enforcement will be met from within existing budgets and also from the potential additional revenue generated not only in the city centre but across the city.