MSDC To Resume Car Parking Charges In Burgess Hill From Monday 8th June

Mid Sussex District Council have announced they will be reintroducing car parking charges across their car parks from Monday 8th June.

Charging was suspended 10 weeks ago, for reasons which are now seemingly disputed between MSDC and Burgess Hill's councillors.

MSDC claim it was to provide safe parking for Key Workers due to a lack on-street spaces as more people were staying at home, while Burgess Hill Councillors have pointed out that Health & Safety was the reason, especially due to the risk of the virus spreading further through manual use of the pay machines. But hey, let's not split hairs when the reason applicable for all was the Coronavirus.

Back in March, concern had also been raised from the Burgess Hill public that charges were putting shoppers off from supporting the businesses still open for trade at the time.



The timing of the decision to reintroduce car parking charges is a strange one - with the majority of retail stores not re-opening until June 15th. It could now see the week of June 8th-14th being a quiet one in the town centre as shoppers may not wish to pay for the pleasure of accessing a vastly reduced retail offering.

Mid Sussex District Council held a cabinet meeting yesterday (Monday 1st June) and the item didn't come up for discussion, which is very surprising given there's many questions that could have been asked about the decision.

As a councillor myself, I would have liked to have put forward a case for a delay.

Cllr Robert Eggleston and other district councillors representing Burgess Hill have also requested a delay to resuming charges in all the towns. We await a response from portfolio holder Cllr Stephen Hillier.

The council sent out a press release that states:
New signage will be installed in all car parks to remind customers of how important it is to follow social distancing measures when getting in and out of vehicles or moving around the car park.

People are encouraged to use the MiPermit pay by phone service that is available in every car park to avoid contact with the machines. However, if customers choose to use a machine, then signs will be on display to remind them to follow Government guidelines in respect of social distancing and hand washing.

I'm not sure if this goes far enough. MSDC could have used this system all the way though if a simple sign is all it took.



Free Parking For Some
NHS staff and care workers with a valid government permit on display will continue to receive free parking in all MSDC Car Parks and designated on-street parking bays.

Got an opinion on this story? Leave a comment below.....
Have MSDC got the timing right on the date chosen to reintroduce parking charges?