Latest news with #carparks
BBC News
7 days ago
- Climate
- BBC News
Isle of Man TT: Car parks closed due to wet conditions
Wet weather has led to the closure of two car parks used by visitors to the Isle of Man TT have said the facilities at both St George's Football Club and Noble's Park had been shut due to "poor ground conditions".Visitors have been urged to use public transport as an alternative to get to the area if conditions would be "assessed throughout the day" with the aim of reopening the facilities "as soon as possible". Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
BBC News
26-05-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Free Sunday car parking to end in Cheshire East
Sunday parking charges in parts of Cheshire will come into force this month, five months after full-time free parking ended in several East Council is extending the charging period by four hours on weekdays and Saturdays and also bringing in charges on Sundays from 26 follows the authority bringing in fees in towns and villages which had historically had free East Council said it had "little option" but to look at ways to increase its income as it faced financial challenges. Users of council-owned car parks across the borough will have to pay between 08:00 and 22:00 during the week and on parking charges will also come into force based on the weekday charges for each car parks in areas such as Alsager, Audlem, Handforth, Holmes Chapel, Middlewich, Poynton, Prestbury and Sandbach had previously had free parking until charges came into force in car park in each town and village has free parking after 15:00 and on-street parking bays remain free, the council took place in some areas ahead of the charges coming in, including outside council one area, Bollington, the town council agreed to pay Cheshire East to keep the car park free for users. Cheshire East said any surplus funds from parking charges would be used in other highways and transport services, such as road maintenance and towards evening and Sunday bus Goldsmith, chair of Cheshire East Council's highways and transport committee, said: "When benchmarked against neighbouring councils, it is clear that our current parking charges are significantly lower."Nor do they reflect inflation as this is also only the second time parking charges have been increased since Cheshire East was formed in 2009."Coupled with the council's financial challenges, we have little option but to look at how we maximise our income and ensure that the charges we collect are sufficient to help cover the rising costs of maintaining, managing, and enforcing our car parks." See more Cheshire stories from the BBC and follow BBC North West on X. For more local politics coverage, BBC Politics North West is on BBC One on Sunday at 10:00am and on BBC iPlayer.
News.com.au
24-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Warning as Melbourne's CBD car parks face financial pressure
Melbourne's CBD car parks are under siege as government levies, work from home and close to 1 million square metres of empty office space put them under growing financial pressure. There are now warnings growing numbers of carparking complexes will be sold off, or even converted into data centres to support the city's growing computing needs as operators search for ways to keep them profitable. New research from Ray White's commercial arm shows the average $64.43 daily rate for a car park in the CBD is now cheaper than it was more than a decade ago, with the figure at $65 in 2013. It is the only major capital to have recorded a reduction in parking costs in the 12 years covered by the research, which also shows operators are also now offering nation-leading early bird discounts of 62.9 per cent in a bid to lure commuters back into the city. It comes as Property Council data shows office vacancy rates sit at a national high of 18 per cent, while hospitality magnate Justin Hemmes has revealed plans to turn a recently sold city council carpark into an entertainment hotspot. Ray White head of research Vanessa Rader said carparking was a key indicator for the health of a city's office market and 'Melbourne is looking pretty bad'. 'I wouldn't be surprised if the city's vacancy rate was more than 18 per cent,' Ms Rader said. 'And for a market that is a bit over 5 million square metres of space, that's about 1 million square metres of empty space.' The analyst said while more car park operators would probably consider selling, they might struggle. 'I don't think they will necessarily transact,' she said. 'The levies are high, the occupancy is low and so are the parking rates, and you have to pay land tax. Who will buy that?' However, alternative uses, such as transforming them into data centres to boost digital security and computing power in the CBD, could become more feasible. JLL head of capital markets in Victoria Josh Rutman handled the recent sale of the City of Melbourne's 34-60 Little Collins St complex to Justin Hemmes Merivale Group and said carpark ownership had become far more challenging as a result of congestion levies. This year the state government has applied a levy on all individual carparking spaces of $1750 across Melbourne's CBD and its immediate surrounds. A secondary catchment faces fees of $1240, with this region to be expanded next year. 'The appeal of them has been that it's low-maintenance and easy to do investment, but costs have changed dramatically and the demand has shifted,' Mr Rutman said. 'So the demand for carpark investments has changed, as it's not viewed in the same light it used to be, particularly with the levies on inner city and CBD carparks.' However, the commercial property agent added that they were also typically in strategic locations that could suit other developments. 'That's what we saw with Little Collins St, a great range of interest from hospitality groups and developers who saw value in that location,' Mr Rutman said. 'But not so much in it as a carpark.' While he didn't believe carparks would immediately disappear, he did note operators looking at buying them today would be pricing their budget for them based on the new, lower, demand levels — and heightened costs. With city planners prioritising bike lanes, a nearly completed metro tunnel about to boost rail access to parts of the city and its fringes, Mr Rutman said it was possible Melbourne could head down more of a New York path — where most residents did not use a car day to day. Colliers director Matt Stagg has specialised in CBD and city fringe car park sales for more than two decades and said the market had been polarised since the Covid pandemic. 'Collins Street, Flinders Street and Spring Street have performed well,' Mr Stagg said. 'But car parks in secondary locations have not.' The agent added that weekday demand now peaked on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays — but Monday and Friday volumes remained soft. He said institutional landlords and councils were increasingly viewing city car parks as non-core assets, and many were likely to be sold off in the months ahead. 'Yes, I think you'll see more councils and landlords divest car parks over the next 12 to 24 months,' Mr Stagg said. 'Increased land tax and increased car park levies are eroding the net income.' He said many of Melbourne's car parks sat on highly valuable land parcels and were being eyed for development. However, the agent added that tradespeople, essential workers, and commuters from outer suburbs who couldn't rely on public transport continued to drive demand in key locations, but the days of car parks as cash cows were fading. 'I think if new car parks are going to be built, it'll be in the outer suburbs near train stations,' he said. 'Closer to the city, we're going to see many of them redeveloped.' Mr Stagg said individual car spaces in the CBD, especially in premium apartment buildings or strata offices, were still changing hands for anywhere between $50,000 and $100,000, with off-market sales in top-tier locations occasionally pushing as high as $150,000 per bay.
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Free hour parking scheme in Forest of Dean expanded
A parking scheme which offers the first hour for free is being rolled out to another site after council bosses confirmed the regime is "working well". Forest of Dean District Council chiefs abolished the first hour charge for their car parks last year as a way to attract new visitors to their part of Gloucestershire. At a cabinet meeting on 15 May, councillors voted to bring Pyart Court car park in Coleford into the scheme to ensure continuity across their authority agreed to delegate officers to consider feedback and decide whether to go ahead. The Pyart Court site includes a off-street parking area which enforced different rates than their nearby car there is a 20p charge for an hour and 40p for two hours – which applies 24 hours and seven days a badge holders are also charged at the standard rate, as reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS). 'Unify charges' Projects and property cabinet member Sid Phelps, who presented the report, told the meeting: "The proposal will abolish the current charge for blue badge holders, to bring it in line with other Forest of Dean District Council car parks."The parking order will unify charges across all of our car parks in the district." Mr Phelps asked cabinet members to back the proposals and to agree a budget of around £5,850 for equipment and signs for the emergency cabinet member Chris McFarling approved the concept of bringing Pyart Court on board."We seem to be doing well with the new charging facilities which we introduced," he said."After much discussion and debate, they seem to be working well. We are managing to get the income we need to offset the expenditure in our car parks."
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Car park charges suspended in Melton after council clerical error
A Leicestershire council has suspended all charges in car parks it runs following a "clerical error".Melton Borough Council, which operates nine car parks in and around the town, said the error occurred in April while it was implementing new parking authority said charges would be suspended with immediate effect until 14 machines in council car parks have been covered over so they cannot be used and the council has urged people not to use the "Pay by Phone" app. All other parking restrictions remain in force, the council confirmed.
