Town introduces free parking on market days

A town is to introduce free parking on market days and will increase the cost of all-day parking for the first time in 15 years.

A new free parking period of at least four hours was agreed for Stowmarket's short-stay car parks after midday on market days at a meeting of Mid Suffolk District Council's cabinet on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in the town's long-stay car parks, all-day charges will go up from £2.50 to £3 - the charges having not changed since they were first introduced in 2011.

Councillor Teresa Davis, the council's lead for thriving communities, said the changes were being brought in to maintain adequate parking provision amid ongoing growth in the town.

Davis said: "Stowmarket is a lovely place to visit, live and work. While change isn't easy, we feel these changes and tweaks are a comprehensive way of showing we listened."

She added that the changes would "show off our growing market" and encourage visitors.

Other changes include bringing charging hours forward 30 minutes, from Monday to Saturday, between 08:00 and 18:00, reducing three-hour charges to £1.50 from £2 and introducing a four-hour tariff at £2.

The council said it was also introducing a £30 monthly season ticket to help town centre workers, which worked out at £1.50 a day if someone parked five days a week for four weeks.

The council may also expand free parking to cover the entire afternoon, up to 18:00, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The council's changes could cost up to £465,000 in total, with the bulk of the money to be spent implementing a new residents' parking zone, subject to a formal consultation being conducted by Suffolk County Council.

Councillor Andrew Mellen, the authority's leader, added: "This is a series of minor changes but is really well thought through and we just need to implement it and see how it lands – I think it will make a difference."

The changes are due to be implemented by the spring of next year.

Correction 9 September 2026: This article has been altered to clarify that only one of the town's parking charges is going up in price.

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