Disc parking charge could be brought in by Hartlepool council at Seaton Carew

It comes as Hartlepool Borough Council neighbourhood services committee are to complete a 12 month evaluation of the scheme following on from seasonal parking charges being confirmed.

Currently limited stay parking discs are provided free of charge on sections of the Sea Front and Station Lane car park from April 1 to October 31 for up to two hours in places.

However council officers are now recommending a ‘nominal charge’ is brought in for the discs to help support their production and supply, which currently costs the council £6,000 a year.

A report from council assistant director of environment and neighbourhood services Tony Hanson said the charge is to encourage people to reuse the parking discs.

It said:  “Disc parking has allowed self-regulating managed short stay parking provision on areas of The Front and in Seaton Park.

“There is no encouragement for the reuse of these discs while they are offered for free, meaning the present arrangements are not environmentally sustainable.

“It is proposed that a charge is implemented to recover this cost going forward.”

He added other local authorities sell parking discs through local businesses or using dispensing machines, and the report said Hartlepool Borough Council could consider one of these approaches.

The evaluation also recommends that nine bays outside Seaton Carew bus station, which were converted from pay and display to business use, are returned to their previous use.

Council bosses say this is because once a £204 permit charge for businesses became applicable, demand substantially decreased, and added the other 14 business bays will remain.

Furthermore, the existing white hatching down the centre of the carriageway along The Front will be reviewed by the council highway department due to the presence of the parking laybys and the condition of the existing road markings.

Seasonal parking restrictions in the area faced objections from residents when they were first brought in by the council around two years ago.

Other seasonal parking restrictions in Seaton Carew include pay and display charges being in force from April 1 to October 31, between 9am-6pm, seven days a week.

Charges are £1 for up to two hours, £1.50 for up to four hours and £2 to park all day and apply to the Sea View, Rocket House and Coronation Drive car parks and on-street on The Front and The Cliff (eastern side only).

The proposals will be discussed at the Hartlepool Borough Council Neighbourhood Services Committee at the Civic Centre on Monday from 4pm.

Nic Marko , Local Democracy Reporting Service