Council Urged To Speed-Up Parking Machine Upgrade

Harborough District Council is being urged to speed-up plans to upgrade payment machines in car parks.

The current machines rely on 3G technology to operate and the networks are due to be switch-off nationally next year.

Cllr Simon Whelband (Conservative) has also raised concerns about delays in the authority publishing a new car parking strategy, which will detail future plans around the operation of car parks it owns in Market Harborough, Lutterworth and some villages.

He spoke to HFM:

A Harborough District Council spokesperson said: “We are continuing to progress the development of our car parking strategy, which is programmed to go to scrutiny in October 2024.

“A number of factors have affected the timescale for the draft strategy, including recruitment to a new car parking manager, and we are awaiting the outcomes of a number of other key pieces of work and studies, including a review of The Symington Building and surrounding car parking areas and the introduction of a national car parking app.

“The strategy will cover a wide variety of issues across Market Harborough and Lutterworth and the wider district and needs to be comprehensive and well considered.

“A separate project is underway to ensure that residents are able to pay for parking after 3G networks are switched off, which is due to take place at some point in 2025 but no dates have been confirmed.”

Cllr Woodiwiss, Cabinet lead for Climate Change and Environmental, said: “The council fully understands the importance of its car parks for businesses and visitors to the town and has already frozen the price of using the car parks for 2024-25.

“The council is also using the car parks to support a number of local schools at drop off and pick up times.”