Brentwood Council has warned motorists it will step up parking enforcement – including on Sundays.

Free Sunday car parking, freezing the cost of car park season tickets, and replacing the 24-hour parking charge with a reduced fee of £7 – are part of a package of changes to parking fees that aim to support investment in council-owned car parks.

But has added that motorists should expect more stringent parking enforcement – including in Shenfield car parks on Sundays where motorists will be able to park for free but only for three hours.

Parking fees in parts of Brentwood are set to increase by up to 36 per cent next year as the council looks to encourage more people to use the multi-storey car park.

The proposed increases coincide with plans to upgrade ticketing machines across the borough – including using ANPR technology at the Coptfold Road multi-storey car park to make it easier to pay.

The council says that freezing costs at the multi-storey will encourage more people to use that car park as an alternative to the oversubscribed surface car parks at Chatham Way and William Hunter Way where parking charges are set to increase.

All car parks will continue to offer 30 minutes of free parking throughout the borough.

In addition, the 24-hour parking charge is set to be removed but the charge for parking for six hours or more is set to increase to £7 at Chatham Way and William Hunter Way.

Normal charges are set to increase in Chatham Way and William Hunter Way. One hour of parking is set to go from £1.10 to £1.50 – a 36 per cent rise. Two hours is set to go from £2.20 to £2.50 and three hours from £3.30 to £3.50.

A £1.10 all-day parking charge for Sundays is set to be scrapped in all car parks except King Georges Playing Fields and a three-hour parking limit at Shenfield Car parks.

Season ticket prices will remain static at £120 a month and 1,230 for a year.

The council says the extra £50,000 a year income from parking will help pay to improve the payment system currently on offer in the borough.

A new ANPR system of payment is being planned for Brentwood’s multi-storey car park however efforts to upgrade ticketing machines across the rest of the borough are being hampered by contractual obligations.

The new system for the multi-storey at Coptfold Road is due to be installed and operational within the first quarter of 2024, the council has said.

Council leader Barry Aspinell said: “We are going to concentrate on enforcement  – more robust enforcement on the street that will help put people in the car parks and not on the pavements.

“Which is something we pledged we were going to do and I hope we are going to follow through with that early next year.”

Councillor David Kendall, chair of the Finance, Assets, Investment and Recovery Committee added: “Part of the reasons for the increases is we are going to need investment in our car parks with new ticket machines and ANPR technology.

“We have that going in the first quarter of the multi-storey. That will definitely be  a significant  improvement on what we have got at the moment.”

“I’m not happy with the ticket machines we have at the moment in our car park. They are not fit for purpose but we are locked into a contract at the moment.

“As as we move to ticket machines which are more up to date and more reflective of the needs of our residents and business the better.

“Fundamentally we want machines and and system based on how much they have spent parking as opposed to making a decision upfront.”

Price changes will be implemented from April 2024.