Dorset Council plans town-by-town parking charges from April 2027: one hour in town rises from £1.20 to up to £2.10, and five free car parks could start charging.
Parking in Dorset Council’s car parks would cost more in almost every town from spring 2027, under proposals going to the council’s Cabinet next week.
The council wants to end its single county-wide price list. Instead it would set charges town by town and car park by car park. The busiest town-centre and seaside car parks would cost most.
In most towns, one hour in a council car park costs £1.20 today. The proposed new prices run from £1.50 to £2.10 for an hour in those car parks. The steepest is Royal Yard in Weymouth, at £2.10. Weymouth’s Swannery car park, which charges £1.50 today, would go to £2.20.
The plans are in a parking review report to the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday 10 November. It covers 82 council car parks and more than 11,000 spaces. Cabinet is asked to approve the prices as the basis for public engagement, not to bring them in straight away.
What would change
The report proposes:
- new charges in every town, set car park by car park
- higher summer prices in the busiest seaside car parks, with a lower winter rate
- no 30-minute ticket in long-stay car parks, and a new six-hour ticket
- shorter stays in many short-stay car parks, which would go from “4 hrs no return 4 hrs” to a three-hour limit
- dearer on-street parking, so that the street always costs more than the nearest car park
- a 15% discount for electric cars on the Flexi Stay permit, as a one-year pilot
- possible charges at five car parks that are free today
Parking charges rose in 2023/24 and 2025/26 but not this year. The report says the service’s costs rise every year, with staff pay up 3.3% in 2026/27.
The towns: one hour, now and proposed
All-day parking changes less. A 10-hour ticket in a standard town long-stay car park costs £6.30 today. The proposals put it at between £6.50 and £6.90, depending on the town.
| Town | 1 hour now | 1 hour proposed | All day now | All day proposed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weymouth (year-round car parks) | £1.20 to £1.50 | £1.80 to £2.20 | £6.30 to £9.00 | £6.80 to £9.50 |
| Dorchester | £1.20 | £1.60 to £1.90 | £6.30 | £6.70 |
| Bridport | £1.20 | £1.40 to £1.90 | £6.30 | £6.70 |
| Shaftesbury | £1.20 | £1.70 to £1.90 | £6.30 | £6.70 to £6.80 |
| Sherborne | £1.20 | £1.60 to £1.80 | £6.30 | £6.60 |
| Wareham | £1.20 | £1.70 to £1.80 | £6.30 | £6.70 |
| Blandford | £1.20 | £1.50 to £1.80 | £6.30 | £6.50 to £6.80 |
| Wimborne | £1.20 | £1.50 to £1.80 | £6.30 | £6.50 to £6.80 |
| Gillingham | 90p | £1.20 to £1.50 | £4.00 | £4.40 to £4.70 |
| Ferndown, Penny’s Lodge | 90p | £1.50 | £4.00 | £4.70 |
| Sturminster Newton | 90p | £1.20 to £1.30 | £4.20 | £4.40 |
| Beaminster | 90p | £1.20 | £4.20 | £4.40 |
“All day” is the 10-hour ticket in a long-stay car park. Ranges cover the different car parks in each town. Swanage is not in the list: its main car parks are run by the town council.
The seaside: summer and winter
The seaside car parks already charge more in summer. Under the proposals, both seasons would rise.
| Car parks | 1 hour, winter | 1 hour, summer | All day, summer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weymouth: Pavilion, Melcombe Regis, Lodmoor, Beach (Preston Road), Overcombe | £1.70 now, £2.10 to £2.70 proposed | £3.20 now, £3.60 to £4.10 proposed | £15.80 now, £16.20 to £16.50 proposed |
| Lyme Regis: Holmbush, Cobb Gate, Broad Street | £1.70 now, £2.40 proposed | £3.20 now, £3.90 to £4.10 proposed | £15.80 now, £16.30 proposed (Holmbush) |
| West Bay | £1.50 to £1.70 now, £2.10 to £2.60 proposed | £1.50 to £3.20 now, £3.60 to £4.10 proposed | £9.00 to £15.80 now, £15.80 to £16.30 proposed |
| Portland: Chesil Beach, Castletown | £1.70 now, £2.40 proposed | £3.20 now, £3.90 proposed | £15.80 now, £16.40 proposed |
There are three changes worth knowing about:
- Charmouth Road, Lyme Regis, charges the same all year today, with £9 for 10 hours. The report proposes a summer rate, taking 10 hours to £16.30 in high season.
- Lower Sea Lane, Charmouth, would go the other way. It would lose its summer rate, so 10 hours in summer would fall from £15.80 to £4.60.
- West Bay Road, West Bay, also gains a summer rate, taking all day from £9 to £15.80.
The report describes the seasons only as winter and summer. Our Dorset parking page gives today’s summer dates, 1 April to 31 October.
Five free car parks could start charging
Dorset Council has 17 free car parks. The report lists five where charges “could be considered”, at 80p for an hour and £4.10 for 10 hours:
- Masonic, Portland
- Lord Clyde, Portland
- Hambro, Portland
- Fortuneswell, Portland
- Stour Meadows, Blandford
It says “no decisions have been made so far” on these.
Ten others would stay free. They include Weymouth’s Mount Pleasant Park and Ride, Southill in Weymouth, New Ground and Easton on Portland, The Milldown in Blandford and three car parks in Verwood.
Leased bays at Station Road in Corfe Castle and Deans Court in Wimborne would go from £500 to £650 a year.
Parking on the street
On-street charges would rise in all three bands:
- Weymouth: £4.60 for an hour now, £5.10 proposed; the overnight charge would go from £7.30 to £8.10
- Shore Road, Swanage: £21.70 for 10 hours now, £23.90 proposed
- elsewhere in Dorset: £1.70 for an hour now, £2.20 proposed
Why the council says it wants this
The report says some coastal and town-centre car parks “often run out of spaces” while others nearby sit underused. It argues that the current three-tier county tariff “does not reflect these local differences”.
It also says the council cannot legally make parking cheaper just because a driver lives locally. Charges must be set for traffic management reasons under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. So there is no separate resident discount in the plans.
Ten online “listening events” drew more than 160 people from town and parish councils, business groups and transport groups. The report says they welcomed local pricing and enforcement. They also said free parking periods should continue and that worker parking takes too many town-centre spaces.
What happens next
If Cabinet agrees on 10 November, the timetable in the report is:
- November 2026: councillors are briefed
- December 2026 to January 2027: a public engagement on the proposals
- November 2026 to January 2027: talks with town councils, which can lead to “minor adjustments” to prices and stay limits
- February to April 2027: the legal order setting the charges is updated
- April to June 2027: the new charges “may go live”
What it means for you
- Nothing changes yet. Today’s prices stay in place until the new order is made, which the council expects in spring 2027 at the earliest.
- You can have your say this winter. The public engagement is planned for December and January. We will publish the link when it opens.
- If you park every day, look at the permits. The Flexi Stay permit costs £31 a month or £330 a year in 2026/27 and covers unlimited daily parking in participating car parks. The report says permits give “excellent value for money”.
- Want to speak at Cabinet? Questions and statements must reach the council by 8.30am on Thursday 5 November, according to the meeting agenda.
We will report the Cabinet decision on 11 November.
Sources
- Dorset Council: Parking Review, report to Cabinet, 10 November 2026, including Appendix 1A (car park tariffs), 1B (on-street tariffs) and 1D (free car parks).
- Dorset Council: Cabinet agenda, 10 November 2026, for the meeting time and the deadline for public questions.
- Parking in Dorset, our guide to today’s charges and seasons.
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