New parking machines offering 'a wide range of payment options' to be installed across Wakefield

Earlier this year, the council began a procurement process to replace ageing ticket machines at local authority car parks across the district.

The council operates 92 machines at 73 on and off-street car parks.

The current machines were second hand and installed around 2008.

A report to the council’s regeneration, environment and economic growth scrutiny committee said the exercise to find replacement machines offering “cash, card and app functionality” remains ongoing.

The document said: “It is expected that these will be installed, subject to a successful procurement exercise, in early spring next year.

“This is later than originally anticipated due to challenges finalising the specification, which still includes a wide range of payment options, including cash.”

In January, highways chiefs ruled out plans to introduce cashless payments at council car parks.

The possibility of scrapping cash had been considered in a report previously commissioned by the authority, which said the council had to pay £140,000 to repair its pay and display machines during the 2023/24 financial year.

Some of the cost was due to machines being vandalised or targeted by thieves.

At the time, Matthew Morley, the council’s cabinet member planning and highways, said: “Cashless payments is not something we want to move forward to.

“People should always have that choice to be able to use cash.

“I don’t think cash is ever going to go away completely.

“Everyone needs a choice. Whether it be cashless, card, apps, or whatever, you need that variety when it comes to parking so no one is put off using it.”

The scrutiny committee report also said Merchant Gate car park, next to Westgate Railway Station, had recently been upgraded to include the use of automatic number plate recognition technology.

The document said previous technology had “reached the end of its lifespan” and was “presenting significant challenges for the customers.”

It said: “Barriers were regularly malfunctioning, and this was placing significant demands on the council’s CCTV team and parking service staff, who were having to manage workarounds to enable customers to safely enter and exit the car park.

“Online booking is now available for London North Eastern Railway (LNER) customers, and the security of the car park has also been transferred to LNER.”

Free parking for two hours is set to be reintroduced on Monday (November 17) at the council’s car parks.

Senior councillors last month agreed to scrap the charges at all off-street car parks in Wakefield city centre, Castleford, Pontefract, Ossett, Normanton and South Elmsall in a bid to boost local businesses and encourage footfall.

Previously, two hours of free parking had been put in place at off-street car parks across Wakefield at the start of the Covid pandemic in April 2020.

But charging was reintroduced in April 2023 to tackle a £24m budget shortfall because free parking was costing £1.8m a year in revenue.

The report added: “The committee is asked to note the efforts of the parking services staff, who have facilitated the reintroduction of free car parking in time for the busy Christmas trading period, which will help shoppers and businesses alike.”

The committee will consider the report at a meeting on November 19.