January 29, 2013 10.18 am This story is over 134 months old

Council to start charging on Sundays at car park near church

Sunday fees The City Council will start charging for Sunday parking at one of its car parks near a High Street church.

The City of Lincoln Council will introduce parking fees on Sundays at a car park near a church on Chaplin Street.

The former King Street car park has been integrated into the Chaplin Street car park after land was transferred from Lincolnshire County Council to create extra car parking spaces.

In total, there are now 102 available car park spaces in this car park, just off the lower High Street, which the council estimates would generate some £5,635 per year.

Council survey data suggests usage on late Sunday mornings varies between 88% and 100% full, and that church worshippers form the majority of the users.

In April 2007 charging for evening usage was introduced on Chaplin and King Street car parks, but Sunday charging was not introduced.

There was an objection to the proposed evening charge from the adjacent Thomas Cooper Memorial (TCM) Baptist Church.

The church claimed it held some rights over the usage of the council’s car parks, but it was concluded it had no residual rights over the parking facilities.

After evening parking charges were introduced, the church sought assurances no Sunday charging would be introduced, and the Council confirmed that it had no plans to do that at that time. However, it was explicitly stated that circumstances inevitably change, according to a council report.

Car parking fees are one of the main sources of income for the City of Lincoln Council, besides ever-reducing government grants.

The council has to cut £3 million over the next four years, with £1 million in the first 12 months, which already led to the loss of 8 jobs and the introduction of yearly fees for green waste collections, among others.