Waverley Borough Council has announced that parking tariffs in all council-owned car parks – including Village Way and Stocklund Square car parks in Cranleigh – will be reinstated from Wednesday 1st July.

The council suspended enforcement of all parking charges on 27th March, in order to support key workers and volunteers responding to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Officers are currently working to ensure that car parks can operate safely, by installing new signs with social distancing instructions and marking out 2-metre queueing guides at all ticket machines.

Some of the charges will have changed since enforcement was suspended in March, due to the new tariffs, which were announced in February, having come into effect from 1st April.

For Waverley Borough Council controlled car parks in Cranleigh, the hourly rate from 1st July is 80p for hour one, 90p for hour two, 80p for hour three, £1 for hour four, and 50p for hour five.

By the time parking charges are resumed, the council says it will have provided 96 days of free parking to support local communities, losing around £100,000 of revenue per week.

Waverley has committed to continue its support of the Surrey NHS and Care Worker Permit scheme, enabling holders of these permits to park for free in all of its car parks.

Councillor Nick Palmer, Waverley Borough Council Portfolio Holder for Operational and Enforcement Services, said:

We have listened to our residents and businesses about the need for free parking to help our businesses begin to recover and we have decided to allow over two weeks of free parking to support businesses reopening on our high streets, from 15 June to 30 June 2020, while residents start to get back to shopping on the high streets.

I would like to have been able to do more, but our car parks are a key asset that generates a significant proportion of the council’s revenue, which we use to pay for vital services such as waste and recycling, street cleaning and maintaining our parks and open spaces, as well as providing and maintaining the car parks themselves. Although we have received some additional funding from government, this is expected to cover less than a quarter of our projected shortfall, so we need to be careful, and it’s likely that we will need to increase charges once the situation has stabilised, in order to keep on an even keel.

From the outset of the pandemic we made a commitment to prioritise the immediate health, wellbeing and safety of local residents and I’m proud that not only were we able to support key workers in doing their vital work, but that we can continue to do so by providing them with free parking via the NHS and Care Worker Permit scheme.