Burnham and Highbridge Town Council has voted to oppose proposals to introduce Sunday charges in Somerset Council’s car parks, including Highbridge’s Bank Street Car Park.
As reported here, the council’s consultation started on September 8th and will run for six weeks, closing on October 20th.
There are currently different charging principles applied across the county’s 200+ Council-run car parks, and the system has not been reviewed since Somerset Council came into being in 2023.
Locally, there are already Sunday parking charges in force at the council’s car parks in Burnham-On-Sea. However, no Sunday charges are in place at Highbridge’s Bank Street car park, pictured here, and these proposals could therefore lead to new Sunday charges being introduced there.
The Sunday charging proposals are the start of a process aimed at “harmonising charging practices across the county,” says Somerset Council. The proposal to consult on Sunday charges, which was approved by the council’s Executive earlier this year, gives the public a chance to have their say before any final decisions are taken.
Under the previous five councils there were different approaches to Sunday charges in car parks. This means that there are currently Sunday charges at many car parks, including for example in Watchet, Minehead, Wells, Glastonbury, Cheddar, Street, Frome, Shepton Mallet, Williton and Burnham-On-Sea. However, there are no charges currently in Taunton, Wellington, Bridgwater, Chard. Crewkerne, Yeovil and Highbridge’s Bank Street car park.
Click here to read a full list here of the proposed Sunday charging changesÂ
The council says the aim of this proposal is to “bring consistency across Somerset while also ensuring the parking service continues to be completely self-funded to cover staffing, serving and administrating penalty notices, and managing and maintaining car parks to a high level.”
The consultation starts today, 8th September, and runs for six weeks, closing on 20th October. The public and businesses can take part here: https://somersetcouncil.citizenspace.com/parking/copy-of-consultation
Cllr Peter Clayton told Monday’s meeting that many years ago this was a compensation between Sedgemoor District Council and Highbridge because of the closure of the market and “they said we are going to take it to Bridgwater but you can have free parking on Sundays so you can have stalls or a smaller market as such. It was a compensatory agreement which could now be scrapped – which is really sad for Highbridge I think.”
Cllr Ganesh Gudka said that because there are conflicting positions on the proposals among town councillors, with no consensus, that the Town Council should not give a joint position as part of the consultation, but instead councillors should be encouraged to submit their personal positions via the consultation, along with the public.
Cllr Mike Murphy added that he feels the Bank Street car park is often “empty” and while he understands the empathy, “the overhaul will not affect Highbridge any more than anywhere else because they are not using it. It’s not used for football, church or anything on Sundays.”
Cllr Sharon Perry that businesses, residents and individuals should respond to the consultation.
But Cllr Clayton said: “I think Highbridge needs supporting. I don’t think we should have any further charges in the Bank Street car park. I think we need to support Highbridge as a council and I propose this.”
His proposal of a formal ‘objection to the proposed traffic order’ was seconded by Kate Pearce and a vote saw councillors vote with 11 against changes to the parking charges, four in favour, and one abstaining.
The consultation on Sunday charges runs until 20th October. The proposals will then be considered at the Council’s Climate and Place Scrutiny Committee before final decisions are taken at Executive on 3rd December. If agreed, any changes would not come into effect until 2026.
