Review to consider impact on Stockton and Yarm parking charges to be agreed

Plans to review the next steps for parking charges in Stockton and Yarm will be considered by Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council's Cabinet next week.

In October 2024, as part of the Council's transformation work Powering our Future, the Cabinet approved plans to remove the first free hour of car parking across Council owned car parks in Stockton and Yarm.

The decision to remove the free hour was taken with the aim of balancing the need to cover the costs of maintaining and managing car parking, with the desire to ensure the Borough's town centres remain attractive to shoppers.

At that time a commitment was also made to review the new arrangements after a year to consider the impact on residents, visitors, and Council finances. Collection of car park occupancy, footfall and 'dwell time' data began following the implementation of the changes.

Following a May 2025 motion, which recommended that Cabinet consider reversing this decision in respect of Yarm, and the earlier Cabinet commitment to review the impact across both towns, councillors will now consider the next steps for the review of charges.

While monitoring the impact of the removal of the first free hour between February and May 2025 provisional data shows footfall in Yarm and Stockton is higher every month than it was in 2024 and 2023.

Councillors will be asked to agree the scope of the review at the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, 17 July and will consider the types of data to be collected as well as committing to consulting with businesses and people affected by the charges in both Stockton and Yarm with the aim of capturing information about trading as well as anecdotal feedback.

Councillor Paul Rowling, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council's Cabinet Member for Resources and Transport, said: "We made a commitment to review the changes agreed in October to fully assess the impact they are having across Yarm and Stockton Town Centre on residents and businesses.

"This is why we're asking Cabinet to agree the scope of the review, to get this detailed work underway.

"While initial data collected in the first four months is showing that footfall is up in our town centres we want to delve deeper and analyse the information and trends.

"This will allow us to get the full picture of what removing the first hour of free parking has done to change residents and visitors' habits and how this may be affecting our town centre businesses.

"We also want to engage with those affected and listen to what they have to say.

"The thorough review will be undertaken, and we'll report the findings back to Cabinet as soon we can."