Parking charges at Bristol’s Ashton Court, Blaise Castle and Oldbury Court set to go up

Visitors to three of Bristol’s most popular estates look set to face a hike in parking charges - just a year after fees were introduced.

The proposed increase in parking charges at Oldbury Court, Blaise and Oldbury estates has been put forward for approval by Bristol City Council’s cabinet members on Tuesday (April 4).

Officers said test charges had brought a decline in usage of the car parks, which they said suggested had ‘positively influenced active travel’.

They added that usage of Blaise Cafe and Oldbury Kiosk had remained stable. This, they said, indicated that the charges had not had a signficant impact on overal park use. The proposed increase in charges will also bring the sites in line with other car parks.

Car parks at the three sites currently offer one-hour, two-hour and five-hour parking tariffs at £1, £2 and £3, respectively. Under the move, the council will introduce an extra tariff for parking up to three hours at both Ashton Court and Blaise Estates. And the proposed change in prices are set out in the table below:

Charges are applicable at the car parks between 9am and 6pm currently. People pay by coins or by using a mobile app called RingGo - while those caught parking without a ticket could receive a fine of up to £70.

The charges were initially brought in as a test to discover the impact on park usage and services, while a consultation took place with residents on introducing a flat rate fee of £2 at Blaise and Oldbury Estates, which was generally not supported.

The current proposal was then drawn up - but it still attracted concerns like the charges being too high, insufficient public transport and possible impact on nearby residential streets.

However, the council officers, in drawing up their proposal for approval, next week, said: “The proposal will encourage a turnover of visitors so that the opportunity to have access to a parking space could improve.

“The proposal will also raise funds to enable the council to invest and maintain other free-to-access green spaces that all communities rely on for health and wellbeing.”

If approved, the hiked parking tariffs would come into effect during June and July of this year. You can read the report here.