By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
Nottinghamshire County Council is doubling the price of matchday parking at its County Hall headquarters from September.
Motorists can park at County Hall’s car park, which is owned by the Conservative-run council, on days when sporting events are taking place.
From September 18, when Nottingham Forest are due to face Burnley FC, the council says parking charges at the facility off Loughborough Road will be increasing from £5 per vehicle to £10.
The authority told the Local Democracy Reporting Service this is to reflect increased costs from the need for more parking attendants.
Parking is cash-only, and there will be no cashless payment system, contrary to what the council initially said.
One fan, who had received a flyer about the price increase, said he felt football fans were being taken advantage of.
The man, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “It may cause people to attempt to use alternative cheaper car parks thus creating further traffic issues or may impact on the other car parks putting their pricing up.
“The council cannot justify this increase and as local government will understand they have to be able to account for such increases.
“Football fans should not be taken advantage of and the council have clearly misread the memo on the cost of living crisis.
“They’ve got this wrong and need to acknowledge this and stop the increase.
“Other car parks in the area are £5 and this is the fair market price for Nottingham.”
The increase to parking fees at the County Hall car park is the first in 13 years, the council says.
A £5 charge has been in place since 2010.
Councillor Keith Girling, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Asset Management, added: “The revised cost of £10 is very much in line with the cost of parking at sporting venues across the country.
“The county council has had to employ additional staff as car park attendants so we are covering our costs.”
