Car parking charges are going up and charging times extended to 8pm and on Sundays in Dorset Council owned car parks across Bridport.

From early next year, drivers using any Dorset Council car park will be charged for parking 8am to 8pm, Monday to Sunday. This extends the chargeable period by two hours and introduces paying to park on Sundays.

In Bridport, this includes East Street, South Street, Rope Walks, Wykes Court, West Street and Hope Terrace and West Bay Road, Station Yard, East Beach, The Mound and Esplanade at West Bay.

In West Bay at East Beach, Station Yard and West Bay Road car parks, charges will increase from £2 a day for all day parking to £4. All other existing car park tariffs will remain unchanged at this time.

The authority says the changes are being brought in across the Dorset council area to make car parking charges more consistent and the last review of charges at West Bay was in April 2014.

Alongside these changes, Dorset Council is exploring a potential council-wide shoppers' permit. The permit has run in west Dorset for 23 years and provides shoppers with discounted parking in short stay car parks.

A shoppers' permit consultation will start this autumn to help evaluate the proposal.

These changes come as part of an ongoing review of car parks following the creation of Dorset Council and aims to make car parks charging more comparable across the council area.

Cllr Ray Bryan, portfolio holder for highways, travel and environment, said: "It became apparent at an early stage of our car parks review that charges had not been reviewed for several years and changes needed to be made for a more consistent approach.

"As a council in a challenging financial position, we are trying to achieve a delicate balance of maximising income from our car parks while ensuring residents and visitors will still choose to support our high streets, beaches and attractions.

"While we were looking at these charges before the pandemic hit, it is more important than ever to make these changes now. Through national lockdown measures, people self-isolating and temporary free parking schemes, we have lost around £2million from our car parks so far this year at a time when we need the money most."