Billericay's Lake Meadows car park would charge one 50p weekday ticket, bought 2pm to 3pm, instead of up to £3.70. A 21-day consultation comes first.
Weekday parking at Lake Meadows in Billericay is set to drop to a single 50p ticket. Drivers would buy it at the machine between 2pm and 3pm, and could then stay all day.
Updated 30 September: the decision was not called in and took effect on Tuesday 29 September, the council’s decision record shows. The 21-day consultation notice had not been published when we checked on 30 September.
Today the car park charges up to £3.70 for four hours, Monday to Friday. Weekends are already free.
Basildon Council published the decision record on Tuesday 22 September. It approves the new tariff in draft and orders a formal 21-day public consultation before anything changes. The decision was signed on 11 September.
What would change
The council’s proposal sheet sets out the new rules for the car park’s 119 spaces:
- Parking all day is allowed, as long as a 50p ticket is bought between 2pm and 3pm, Monday to Friday.
- The machine opens for payment at 1.45pm, for the 2pm start.
- Payment is at the machine only. The MiPermit app goes, along with any other remote or app-based payment.
- Bank holidays are charged the same way, except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and Easter Sunday.
- Exemptions remain for contractors, volunteers and fishing, and some bays are set aside for swimming.
- The gates are still locked by volunteers between 9pm and 8am.
Why pay between 2pm and 3pm
The window is there to stop commuters. Someone who parks at 7am and catches a train cannot be at the machine in the middle of the afternoon. A park visitor, a swimmer or a parent at the playground usually can.
That is also why the app is going. The decision record says payment must be made by the machine “to ensure that payment cannot be made by persons who are not present on the site”.
It is an old idea for this car park. The same sheet shows that in 2024/25 Lake Meadows charged 60p for two short windows, 9.30am to 10am and 3pm to 3.30pm.
Why now, and what it costs
The decision record calls the change “a key manifesto commitment” of the council’s administration. Lake Meadows drew “a significant proportion of the feedback” when charges came in across the borough in 2025, according to the officers’ report.
The report gives the money:
- The current Monday to Friday charges bring in about £35,000 a year.
- Redrafting the legal order, changing the signs and reprogramming the machine will cost about £6,000, once.
- There is no effect on this year’s budget, because the income target will already have been met by the time any new charges start.
- Free parking across all seven days would cut income by about £67,000 a year from 2027/28. That has to be found in future budgets.
The report names the risks as “revenue uncertainty and commuter abuse of the car park”. It rejected scrapping controls altogether, because commuters would fill the spaces.
When it could start
Not yet. The call-in window closed on Monday 28 September and the decision took effect on Tuesday 29 September, the decision record now shows.
That only starts the process. The council then has to run a 21-day public consultation under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, and consider the responses, before the car park order can be changed. The council had not published consultation dates when we checked on Wednesday 30 September.
What it means for you
- Until the new order is made, the current charges apply. The council’s car parks page lists £1.20 for an hour, £1.80 for two and £3.70 for four, from 8am to 6pm on weekdays. Weekends stay free.
- If you use the MiPermit app at Lake Meadows, expect to switch to the machine once the change is made.
- You can have your say during the 21-day consultation. We will add the dates here when the notice is published.
- Park users arriving early would still need to be back at the machine between 1.45pm and 3pm to buy their ticket.
The car park sits in Billericay East ward, which is also electing a new town councillor on 22 October. Our by-election story has the deadlines, and our parking guide covers the rest of the borough’s car parks.
One small point for the record: the report’s price table lists the current tariff as £1.10, £1.60 and £3.30. The council’s live car parks page, read on Friday, shows £1.20, £1.80 and £3.70, and we have used the live page.
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