The long-awaited Powys County Council car park review has been completed.

The report will now be taken to cabinet and discussed by the scrutiny committee.

The report recommends the reinstating of the one-hour parking charge to long-stay car parks, but only in the towns where there are no short-stay car parks. This includes Builth Wells, Crickhowell, Llanidloes, Machynlleth, Presteigne and Ystradgynlais. This would not include Brecon or Llandrindod Wells.

It also recommends increasing the tariffs for stays between two and four hours and all-day parking charges. The report says this is to mitigate the financial pressures of reinstating the one-hour parking option in the specified long-stay car parks.

The three other recommendations are:

• Review options for introducing charging in off-street council car parks where currently no charging structure exists

• Review options for amending car park permits to be valid for specific, single car parks, with an option to upgrade for use in multiple car parks in the county

• Free parking for events will cease unless the budget can accommodate all associated costs

Cllr Jackie Charlton, Cabinet Member for a Greener Powys said: “Although delivering sustainable transport in rural areas is challenging, Powys County Council is committed to an approach which achieves a reduction in car use and recognises the need to provide safe and convenient parking within our towns.

“However, this comes at a cost. Powys County Council is currently forecasting a funding shortfall, based on national fiscal analysis, of more than £9.6million for the next financial year with that figure rising to £50.9 million or more over the next four years.

“Sustainable Powys is an approach the council is taking to be innovative and pro-active to re-think how services are delivered to meet future budget pressures. We want a council of the future that delivers quality local government services for our communities with better outcomes. This need to be affordable to deliver for our residents and businesses, and affordable for us to deliver and sustain for future generations is a key part in reaching our goals for Net Zero by 2030.

 “We believe the recommendations put forward from this car park review deliver for both the communities and the county council going forward.”

Recommendations will be discussed by the council’s scrutiny committee next week, Monday, September 9.

As well as car parking tariffs, the review considered how best to manage all the council’s car parks, town centre footfall, the impacts and benefits of local active travel schemes, available resources, the needs of the local communities and the council’s Sustainable Transport Hierarchy.

The review was completed following a series of meetings, discussions, data analysis and benchmarking exercises.

The review was led by independent, impartial consultants, AtkinsRealis. The cross-party review group included representatives from town councils and local businesses where car parks are sited, alongside a politically balanced membership of councillors.