THOSE seeking to park in the Civic Centre car park in Wotton will soon have to pay, after town councillors agreed to introduce charges.

At Monday’s Wotton Town Council meeting councillors approved a proposal to bring in payments for parking outside the Civic Centre.

Councillors were clear to point out that this was not a money-making venture but sought to stop people “taking advantage” of the free parking and leaving their vehicles there all week – despite the 23-hour limit.

Enforcement of the car park will be run by Airport Parking Company of America (APCOA) – the contractor appointed by Gloucestershire County Council – in lieu of the previous monitoring which was provided by town council clerk Sue Bailey.

“This is not about making money, it is just about some having some form of governance,” said Deputy Mayor Cllr Roger Claydon.

“Hopefully, it should free up the car park for visitors for parking for a longer period.”

Councillors agreed to set up a working group to work out the details, such as what the charges will be and for how long.

One of the ideas being considered is 50p for four hours, while another is to bring in permits for residents and town council members and staff.

A popular idea among councillors throughout the possible parking charge debate is to bring in a “nominal fee” which would be as low a charge as possible e.g. 20p or 50p – similar to other car parks in Stroud district.

The decision was almost unanimous, 11 councillors approved, while one abstained, this saw the principle of paid parking and county council monitoring granted.

Wotton Mayor Paul Smith noted that any decision on parking would be unpopular.

“People are going to be disgruntled no matter what we do about it,” he said.

He was keen to take the opportunity to snap up one of the currently free parking pay meters from GCC before they are all redistributed.

If Wotton Town Council cannot obtain one of the free available meters, they will have to pay roughly £3,500 for one.

The working group contains seven of the 13 town council members.

These are Cllrs Roger Claydon, Paul Barton, Terry Luker, Jonathan Turner, Chris Young, Paul Smith and June Cordwell.