Gloucestershire County Council spent £156k on Stroud parking scheme 

A freedom of information request submitted by the SNJ has shown council bosses spent more than £156,000 on the ‘hated’ parking project - which has now been withdrawn. 

This includes consultant fees costing £142,815, postage costs of £6,531, the ANPR survey costing £6,500 plus GCC staff time costing £500. 

Under the plans, if approved, residents in 56 roads would have needed to buy permits at £61.80 a year for one vehicle and £123.60 for a second.

Meanwhile, traders would have been expected to fork out £320 per permit.

However, the plans have now been scrapped.

A county council spokesperson said last month that there was “clearly no mandate” for them to move forward with the scheme.

At the time, the county council said the parking permit system would 'help residents find parking spaces near their homes more easily.'

Affected roads would have included Bowbridge Lane, Bisley Road, Castle Street, Middle Street, through to Slad Road, Folly Lane and Springfield Road

The FOI data also reveals GCC first started looking into introducing parking permits in Stroud in March 2020. 

An informal consultation was first launched by GCC in November 2021, and another consultation ran from March to May 2023. 

Meanwhile, nearly 100 people including several councillors attended a meeting about the proposals at the Crown & Sceptre in April 2023.

Lansdown was one of the 56 roads which could have been affected by the parking proposals

The proposals included merging existing permit zones, 1, 2, and Lansdown Zone, and extending these to include new areas creating a new zone called Stroud Zone A.

The new zone would have included a combination of parking permit areas, shared use bays and the introduction of no waiting at any time (double yellow lines).

GCC - who have been approached for a new statement - previously said their aim was to 'discourage all day parking by non-residents'.

The total amount of money spent on the scheme was £156,346.

At the time many concerns were raised against the scheme including SDC Cllr Lucas Schoemaker, GCC Cllr David Drew, Siobhan Baillie MP and chair of Stroud chamber of trade Tony Davey.

Tony Davey in Belle Vue Road, which also could have been affected by the parking scheme

In her column for the SNJ at the time, Ms Baillie also discussed the plans, saying 'very serious issues are being raised'.

She said: "Concerns about costs, our hospitals, elderly residents, people who are unwell and reliant on their car or carers visiting and the impact on conservation areas have all been mentioned to me.

"I think Stroud should not have parking fees if we want to give traders a boost."

Stroud Hospitals League of Friends also stated they were concerned drivers would use the hospital’s free car park to avoid paying for a permit. 

At the time, trustee Nick Hurst said: "A lack of adequate parking has been a long-standing problem for staff, patients and visitors.

"If we are forced to install measures in the car park we will have to find money to sort out a problem that’s not of our creation.

"We are clearly very worried about the impact of the plans and need to block it."

Cllr David Drew speaking at the parking meeting at the Crown and Sceptre in April last year - photo by Tim Kendall

“I think it cost us too much"

Meanwhile, last week, highways cabinet member Cllr Dom Morris during a council meeting on Wednesday, May 22 said he did not think the scheme was good value for money.

“I’m not comfortable with that figure,” he said.

“I think it cost us too much.

"Part of highway transformation is looking at how we deal with all of our network.

“As a Conservative, I think we have a duty to our taxpayers and those who use our roads to use that money wisely.

"We haven’t abandoned this, we’ve asked the community, we’ve listened and we are not proceeding.”

A GCC spokesperson previously said: "Our aim is to make it easier for residents to find a parking space near their home and to introduce a two-hour time limit for non-residents.

"We also want to make the parking arrangements more consistent over the whole neighbourhood."