Free Saturday parking to be scrapped

At the moment, parking is free all day on Saturdays but from January 8 drivers will have to pay in Rotherham town centre’s council-run car parks and on-street parking bays.

Council bosses said that the reinstatement of Saturday charges had been agreed only after they had exhausted every alternative funding option in an effort to try to keep some form of parking scheme going.

The popular Free After 3 scheme was scrapped at the start of October.

Rotherham Borough Council’s Cabinet member for town centres, Cllr Richard Russell, said: “The funding we received to pay for free parking incentives was actually cut in July.

“But the authority agreed to find funding of its own to continue free Saturday parking to cover the Christmas period, which we know is so important to local traders.

“Unfortunately, funding to continue the scheme just is not available.”

The council, which was criticised after scrapping Free After 3 when shoppers said that it was not clear on car park signs that the scheme had ended, has vowed to ensure that parking signs are clearly amended to let drivers know of the changes.