Parking in South Lanarkshire Council’s car parks will remain free until at least April next year.
Charges were suspended by the council in March following the UK-wide coronavirus lockdown and councillors have been reluctant to reintroduce the previous charging regime.
On Wednesday, October 21, the council’s COVID recovery board decided to delay bringing charges back until the new financial year in April 2021.
The decision came just days after Central Scotland MSP Monica Lennon started a petition to maintain free parking at Hamilton’s Duke Street Car Park.
So far, 281 people have signed the petition and Ms Lennon believes the move would “support Hamilton’s COVID-19 recovery”.
She added: “The charges were waived during the pandemic but South Lanarkshire Council is proposing to bring them back.
“With Lanarkshire experiencing a circuit breaker lockdown and the impact of COVID-19 sending shockwaves through our economy, this is not the time to reinstate parking charges.”
At the same meeting, South Lanarkshire’s COVID recovery board also agreed a working group should be established to agree a new policy on parking charges, including reintroducing pay on exit at Duke Street car park and a potential free period of parking for town centre shoppers.
In September, councillors agreed not to reinstate charges until at least November, potentially costing the council over £150,000.
Parking in council car parks has been free since March, costing the council over £500,000 in lost income when compared to last year.
