A SMALL rise in car parking charges is among the measures Teignbridge Council says it is taking to help mitigate the financial impact of covid and lockdown on its ability to deliver its key priorities over the coming year, and offset the significant loss of revenue resulting from the year-long pandemic.

A spokesperson said an increase in council tax Band D of £5 a year and the use of grants and other measures will enable Teignbridge to continue with its ambitions to tackle climate change; increase support for housing, including making good its commitment to build affordable housing in the district.

‘It will also focus on delivering some of its key infrastructure to secure employment and enhanced community settings.

‘The council was faced with a difficult decision in trying to make up the £1.2m funding gap for the coming financial year, and a further £2.6m the following year.

‘The budget is set against a backdrop of reduced funding in grants such as the new homes bonus, other central funding reductions such as business rates and the need to secure long-term borrowing and use of reserves to shore up the impact of covid and resulting drop in revenue from sources such as car parking, as well as the additional funding used to provide vital support for communities hardest hit by the pandemic.’

The budget, agreed by the Full Council last month, will increase car parking charges to give extra gross income of £94,000 from the 2020/21 base budget – which equates to an increase of just over 2%.

‘This will help towards inflation, increases in card payment charges and rates increases arising from the revaluations that mostly affects car parks.

‘The main changes have been to increase charges generally across the majority of car parks including permits and streamlining some charges throughout the year.

The council has also negotiated a ‘no fee’ deal with ticket app providers RingGo, so anyone parking across the districts’ car parks will be able to top up their tickets remotely at no extra cost.

Customers can download the RingGo app and put their vehicle and payment details in and never have to worry about having enough change for parking again.

The proposals will also include changes for any blue badge holder who, as well as being able to use on street parking for free across the district, will benefit from an additional hour’s free parking on top of their standard parking charge.

The existing ‘disabled parking’ permits, which are only provided for current blue badge holders who have an address in the Teignbridge district, will be phased out as they come up for renewal and be replaced by this more equitable system.

Other changes to car parking also includes the removal of the pay on foot exit barriers in three Newton Abbot car parks, which will be replaced by the standard pay and display machines, seen across the rest of the district.

Executive Member with responsibility for parking, Cllr Nina Jeffries, said: ‘This has been an incredibly tough year for everyone, and we’ve had to look long and hard at every potential source of revenue, as well as ensuring a fair and consistent approach to that of our neighbouring authorities.

‘We’ve kept any increases to a minimum, averaging around 10p per hour, and are phasing out some of the old barrier type systems in Newton Abbot town centre that are expensive to run and can be difficult for people to use, and replacing them with new pay and display machines.

‘We’re also pleased to be able to offer the RingGo pay app across our districts with no additional 20p surcharge, to offer anyone parking the chance to top up at their convenience.

‘We hope this year will see a return to our district, our car parks and our wonderful parks, beaches and open spaces as people spend their summer holidays closer to home and shop locally, so we’ve been really careful to try to keep our car parking charges as low as possible, and they are still comparatively amongst the lowest in Devon.’

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