The group received confirmation from SCC yesterday that, despite what they said to the Planning Inspectorate in their application to erect parking charge infrastructure at Newlands Corner, there will not now be cash payment facilities. Given that in SCC’s own consultation about the other five sites that are being affected, most people wanted cash payment, this is a significant change to the application. There might have been a lot more objections (than the huge 1,400 anyway) to the Newlands Corner proposal as this will effectively prevent some people from using the site. And do you remember SCC promised to refurbish the toilets and the all-ability trail before charges were introduced. Do they ever keep a public promise? (I suppose they did promise to introduce charges…..)
June 8, 2018 at 7:53 pm
I take this to mean that there is no facility for paying cash into a machine on the day, ie just stopping for a couple of hours! I had always understood that there would be a top fee of £4 for the day. Bad enough, but least managable. A yearly charge of £60 will negatively impact on people who just want to have a picnic with the children for a couple of hours and don’t necessarily visit enough times to warrant the yearly charge. I certainly won’t be able to justify that charge!
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June 8, 2018 at 8:56 pm
Jacki, there will not be any facility to pay by cash. It will have to be by card or phone. The originally-proposed charges have already been increased, before introduction. It will now be: the first 20 minutes free; otherwise £1.30 an hour up to a maximum of £5 a day; an annual season ticket of £60 a year which will only allow you parking at Newlands Corner – nowhere else on the Surrey Countryside Estate where parking is to be introduced (Ockham, Whitmoor, Chobham and Rodborough commons and Norbury Park). Blue badge holders will be able to park without charge. I hope this helps, depressing though it is.
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June 9, 2018 at 5:31 pm
I understand paymet units have been (or will be) set up at Newlands Corner, which is why I assumed they took cash like a Supermarket car par. Are you saying that when I turn up at Newlands corner I have to pay out £60 at a machine using a card? Or am I expected to purchase a permit prior to visiting Newlands Corner?
And what will happen if I just don’t pay the fee?
I am disgusted by the SCC. I love Newlands Corner – I’ve been going there for over 30 years, but I really can’t afford to pay a one off £60 fee.
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June 9, 2018 at 9:18 pm
Jacki, there is a scale of charges. If you stay for 20 minutes or less, it will be free. It will then be £1.30 an hour up to a maximum of £5 a day. Regular visitors will be able to buy an annual season ticket for £60 – which can only be used at Newlands Corner and not at any of the other SCC sites. If you fail to comply with this, there will be a fine. We don’t know what the penalties will be yet.
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June 10, 2018 at 2:38 pm
I totally understand the scale of charges. My query is, and maybe I’m being obtuse, but if I am not a regular visitor and therefore don’t want to invest in a £60 annual season ticket, how do I pay my £1.30 per hour up to a maximum of £5 a day? Is there a pay machine where I use a debit or credit card to pay the hourly (or day) fee?
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June 11, 2018 at 6:23 am
Jacki, sorry I didn’t understand. There will be three machines – one near the visitor centre, one half way down the car park and one near the bottom. You will be able to pay by credit/debit card as long as they are MasterCard, Visa or Maestro (e.g. not American Express or Diners Club) plus apple and android pay by phone.
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June 9, 2018 at 11:09 am
I’ll continue to go to Newlands Corner .. regardless ..
~ I’d like to see how SCC, and partners are going to enforce payments …
I wouldn’t want to be That ‘Enforcement Officer ‘ !!
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June 9, 2018 at 9:18 pm
Me, too
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June 21, 2018 at 9:15 pm
I wouldn’t want to be an enforcement officer either!
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June 23, 2018 at 9:22 pm
A retro grade step , I will be really surprised if this proves to be a success, watch this space
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July 1, 2018 at 11:10 am
Really disappointed in Surrey Country Council. They are clearly trying everything they can think of to recoup the losses they made in the last few years by abandoning ‘public’ services and replacing them with paid-for schemes. How long will it be before ever-smaller libraries are privatised? What galls me most of all is that they claim charging is not a penalty for users but an advatage in terms of ‘improvements’. Pull the other leg…
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