Warwickshire County Council reviews country park fees - here are the changes and freezes

Car parking charges at Warwickshire country parks have been reviewed with one site set to increase by up to a quarter – but prices have been frozen at other locations.

Warwickshire County Council’s annual review of fees and charges includes a 20 per cent increase to hourly parking rates at Stratford Greenway Country Park with an all-day ticket going to £5 from £4.

Those rates are below those charged at Ryton Pools Country Park, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, where there is no increase, but they are above the rates at Burton Dassett Country Park where a 10 per cent increase – from £3 to £3.30 for all-day parking – is to be applied.

That 30p rise is also being applied to most country parks in the north but not at Kingsbury where the potential implementation of number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras may see rates reconsidered later in the year.

The new prices kick in from April 1.

The new charges means an average increase of 13 per cent across all areas, which includes per-child rates for school visits.

It follows on from the council’s plans to generate an extra £100,000 over the next five financial years by applying a “commercial approach to country parks income streams”.

That includes income derived from rents, catering concessions, shop sales, a share of caravan site profits, special events and grants which combines to make up approximately 25 per cent of the council’s country parks yield.

The council's report, authored by head of waste management and country parks Andrew Pau, adds that Stratford Greenway fees were not increased in 2023-24 and have only been increased once since parking charges were rolled out in 2017.

It notes that visitors who buy all-day tickets “are less likely to be Greenway users and include people that choose to park at the Greenway to visit or work in Stratford itself” with the new price comparing favourably with town centre car parks where the charge is £8.80 to park for between four and nine hours.

“Stratford Greenway is the third most visited site in the country parks portfolio, and we believe that the proposed rates offer excellent value and will not have a negative impact on visitor numbers,” it adds.

The new prices were signed off on Friday.