Proposed changes to car park operational hours, tariffs and maximum stay periods

Following a public consultation on proposed changes to car park operating hours, tariffs and maximum stay periods across the council’s car parks, East Herts Executive met on Tuesday 13 January to decide which changes to introduce.

In response to concerns raised during the consultation, the Executive agreed to put measures in place to reduce the impact of the proposals for the three rural car parks (Buntingford, Sawbridgeworth and Stanstead Abbotts), as well as the proposal to limit free parking for Blue Badge holders to three hours.

For the remaining proposals, the Executive considered the comments received and decided to proceed with the changes as originally proposed. A full breakdown of the objections and the council’s responses is set out in the report available in the documents section of this page.

The changes to be introduced are:

Rural Car Parks

Buntingford

• The extension of operational hours at Bowling Green Lane to 7:30am - 6:30pm and the introduction of weekend charging, subject to the following mitigations:
• Introduction of a new rural car park tariff structure Monday to Friday. The charges will be the same as Sawbridgeworth and Stanstead Abbotts car parks, with no inflationary increase applied to the 2025 tariffs for 2026.
• Introduction of Saturday charging at the same tariff levels as Monday to Friday, to ensure consistency across rural car parks.
• Introduction of a flat £1.50 all-day charge on Sundays.

Sawbridgeworth

• The introduction of weekend charging at Bell Street, aligned with existing weekday tariff levels, subject to the following mitigations:
• Retention of existing Monday to Friday tariffs with no inflationary increase to the 2025 tariffs for 2026.
• Introduction of Saturday charging at the same tariff levels as Monday to Friday, to ensure consistency across rural car parks.
• Introduction of a flat £1.50 all-day charge on Sundays.

Stanstead Abbotts

• In response to comments received, the existing 2025 tariffs will be retained with no inflationary increase for 2026.
  
  

Urban Car Parks

• Charges to rise in all urban car parks in line with the Consumer Price Index (3.8%).

Hertford

• The introduction of a maximum stay of 3 hours for all customers at Gascoyne Way Level A.
• Amendments at Old London Road to provide both short-stay and long-stay parking.

Bishop’s Stortford

• The introduction of a 2.5-hour parking charge at Grange Paddocks A.
• The extension of operational hours to 8:00pm at Grange Paddocks B & C.
• The conversion of several under-utilised disabled bays to parent and child bays at Northgate End.
• Corrections to administrative and operational arrangements at Link Road and Jackson Square, including car club bays and operational hours.

Ware

• The merger of Kibes Lane North and Kibes Lane South into a single car park, operating as short-stay parking Monday to Saturday and long-stay parking on Sundays and public holidays.
• The renaming of the Library Car Park to Burgage Lane, and the reduction of the maximum stay to three hours.
• The merger of Amwell End East and Amwell End West into a single Amwell End Car Park.

Across all car parks

• The introduction of a maximum of three hours’ free parking for Blue Badge holders. In response to comments received, blue badge holders will be able to pay for parking to stay for longer than three hours within the same parking space.

Next Steps

The council’s Executive has now approved the changes detailed above and the new charging structure will be introduced on 6 April 2026.

We would like to thank you once again for taking the time to give us your feedback on the proposals.