MOTORISTS driving into the heart of Winchester could have less choice in car parking but pay more for the privilege as council bosses try to improve the district’s climate and reduce the number of vehicles in the city centre.

Winchester City Council is set to present its ‘Parking and Access Strategy’ to cabinet members on Monday, with a raft of options to tackle the problem of parking, not only within the centre but also in its towns and villages.

The changes are part of the authority’s plan to cut the district’s carbon footprint and get more people using eco-friendly transport such as cycling and walking.

Cllr Martin Tod, cabinet member for service quality and transformation, said: “We want people to be accessing Winchester, ideally we want to be cutting car traffic in the city while not cutting the amount of people that are using the city.

“We are looking at encouraging people, incentivising people to use buses and use park and rides.”

As reported in the Chronicle, the council has also mooted the idea of introducing parking charges for Sundays and evenings, but Cllr Tod said that this money would be put back into evening buses, potentially increasing the park and ride timetable.

“We want people to have good options to get into the heart of Winchester... whether it is walking or park and ride or on foot.”

It comes as civic chiefs admit that the supply of spaces has reduced in recent years, but the authority has said that extra park and ride capacity has been provided.

However, further reductions in central car parks, such as Upper and Middle Brook Street and Gladstone Street, are in the pipeline over the next few years in relation to development proposals.

But the axing of car parking space is not likely to end with new developments, as the council says in its consultation documents more could be closed as it gets “more clarity over the provision of additional park and ride services and spaces and the impact of other measures to encourage alternative methods of accessing the centre”.

Cllr Tod continued: “We hope that council parking can be available for tourists, shoppers and people that want to come in and use town centres.”

He insisted that despite changes to parking the council wants to continue supporting local businesses but “do so in a way that is better for the environment”.

The council insists that Blue Badge parking will be protected to ensure convenient and central parking for disability groups.

The consultation is set to go out to the public at the end of December and reported back to cabinet in the spring.