Babergh District Council will continue to subsidise an hour's free parking to support Hadleigh town centre, with changes to council car park charges expected to come into effect later this year.

Babergh's cabinet took on board public feedback and representations by Hadleigh and Sudbury Town Councils, in pushing back the proposed changes from July to October at the earliest, and increasing free parking time from the proposed 30 minutes to an hour.

The changes, approved by cabinet, follow an independent parking study which found current parking arrangements were outdated and not making best use of available space.

The study also highlighted ways behaviours could shift, to support the council's, and county's, environmental ambitions and improve traffic management in the district.

Original proposals due to be considered by cabinet were deferred to allow further debate by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Full Council. As part of the debate, Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommended that cabinet increase the amount of subsidised parking to an hour. They also recommended delaying the implementation date until at least September 2021.

This recommendation has been mirrored in cabinet's decision, meaning an hour's subsidised parking will remain in Hadleigh and Sudbury to support local business. Small tariffs will also be introduced for longer periods, with all changes coming into effect from October this year at the earliest to allow flexibility in response the ongoing pandemic.

One hour free parking will continue on Hadleigh High Street, which is controlled by Suffolk County Council and not Babergh.

Introducing the charges will help create availability in the council's short stay car parks for quick visits. It will also ensure people park in the right space for their stay; better balancing the needs of local residents, visitors, businesses, and workers.

Babergh will still have some of the lowest tariffs in comparison to similar sized UK towns and in wider Suffolk, to attract people locally to visit and see what's on offer.

Each car park was looked at individually so that local parking would best balance supply and demand. More in-depth parking reviews to look at capacity and other needs for the next 5-10 years will commence in Summer this year.

Cllr Elisabeth Malvisi, Babergh District Council's cabinet member for environment, said: "We said we were prepared to listen which is why we delayed this decision to allow further debate. However, these plans are still a very careful balancing act, between the immediate needs of Sudbury and Hadleigh and those of the district as a whole.

"We must ensure we have the means to carry out necessary public realm improvements as part of our long term COVID-19 recovery. While also making best use of space, supporting our climate ambitions and strong visitor economy.

"By managing our parking stock better, we can make sure people can find the right space, in the right place. We can also bring our car parks up to 21st century standard to support our wider vision work - leading to positive first and last impressions of our towns. But, to do this we need to ensure our parking provision is self-sustaining."

Income raised from the small tariff increases will contribute towards:

· machine upgrades to include a contactless payment option - £70k

· covering general annual operational costs - £210k

Cllr Malvisi, continued: "Any income generated from tariffs will be directly ploughed back into improving the parking facilities and supporting the wider visions for our towns."

The changes also include more opportunities for residential parking including;

a wider permit scheme for use of public car parks