New car parking charges at West Suffolk Hospital

May 1^st 2002

Car parking charges are to be increased at the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds.

The new charges, which were approved by a meeting of the West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust board on Friday 26 April, introduce a phased structure.

The new time bands, which will replace the current £1.00 flat rate charge for people using the car park at the front of the hospital and 70p in other areas per occasion, are:

Up to two hours £1.50
Two to four hours £2.00
Four to six hours £3.00
More than six hours £10.00

The hospital s existing system of giving visitors to long term in-patients free parking will remain as will other measures to help people in special need.

The Trust is also increasing the charge to staff for parking from 30p per occasion to 35p.

The new charging structure will take effect from 1 June.

The new charges will increase the money raised from car parking by an additional £240,000 which will help to pay for improvements and maintenance of the car parks.

"This structure and charges bring us into line with neighbouring hospitals," said acting director of facilities Steve Moore. "At the same time we are planning to create another 90 spaces on site this year and are looking at other solutions, such as the possibility of adding a second level to the front car park.

"We cannot allow the cost of trying to solve our car parking problems to divert money away from other activities, such as patient care."

The hospital is also encouraging staff, patients and visitors to use alternative ways of getting there such as car sharing, public transport, cycling and walking. Each day about 9,000 cars are driven on to the site which currently has 1,000 spaces.

"We are constantly looking at ways to alleviate the problem of having too many cars on site," said Steve Moore.