PARK AND THRIVE: No return for free parking in Burnham

Free parking will not return to Summers Road car park.

South Bucks District Council (SBDC) agreed no changes should be made to charges in Burnham car parks at a full council meeting yesterday.

The Advertiser and Burnham High Street Association launched a campaign in September last year calling for the reinstatement of the car park's free 30-minute period, which had been replaced with a 30p charge by SBDC in January last year.

Figures show that since the change the number of people using Summers Road car park has halved, but councillors accepted the recommendation made by Cllr Bill Lidgate, portfolio holder for environment, that the charge should not be scrapped.

There will also be no changes to parking charges in Farnham Common but the half-hour charge in Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross will be replaced with a minimum one-hour charge of £1.10 from April.

SBDC expects to make a shortfall of about £70,000 against its budgeted car park income of £936,570 for 2011/12.