New date set for launch of higher parking fees in Dewsbury, Huddersfield and Holmfirth

The fees in Dewsbury, Huddersfield and Holmfirth were previously due to be rolled out as of February 19, then April 1, but when each of these dates came around, no increases were put in place.

Now, the new tariffs are due to be brought in from Monday, April 29.

Existing charges will go up by around 60 per cent, with the cost of all-day parking across the three towns rising from £4 to £6.50.

Short-stay parking in Huddersfield will increase from 70p an hour to £1.10 per hour, with fees in Dewsbury and other areas of Kirklees set to increase from 5p to 50p per hour.

The final decision on the hike was made by the council’s cabinet in March.

Speaking at the meeting, Coun Graham Turner, cabinet member for finance and regeneration, said: “It’s worth pointing out that we haven’t raised charges since 2009.

“We’ve tried to be a good authority by keeping our prices low, especially in a cost of living crisis but unfortunately, the time has come where we have to look at increasing our income through car parking because we have been losing money over those years.

“And inflation has been 60.69 per cent since 2010, so an average of 3.45 per cent, so if we’d increased them year on year, we’d have still got to the same figure we’re proposing here.”

On the matter of the new date, David Shepherd, strategic director for growth and regeneration at Kirklees Council, said: “Now that the uplift in fees has been approved, the council has to publicise the changes for 21 days before our parking team can begin the operational work required to roll out the new tariffs across the district.

"There will be updates to the signage, the parking machines, and the RingGo app, and the new tariffs will go live from April 29.

“This has taken slightly longer than initially set out as we have not left the decision to officers but opted to undertake a more robust and transparent approach to the consultation process, taking all feedback on board before the decision was made by elected members.”