Dorset Council (DC) is reviewing its parking services, looking to plan parking arrangements from 1 April 2027. The council wants to listen to views from around the county and invites representatives of Parish Meetings, Parish and Town Councils to hear how these events will take place and how you can participate.
Background reading
Please see page 107 to 118 in the reports pack for Place & Resources Overview Committee 9 July 2026. Here’s the LINK.
The report explains issues identified. The Appendix summarises findings from a first phase of data analysis, examining how car parks performed in recent years.
Share this note with your council representative(s) so they can register and also read the ‘possible policy changes’ section in this note on P2.
Main points for Clerks
• Nudging parking behaviours: DC sees car parking as a tool to manage behaviours when motorists want to park.
• The goal: to help each town to use parking to maximise the good outcomes it wants to achieve for the town.
• The aim: to redistribute where drivers choose to park their vehicles.
• Proposed measures: Review tariff structures locally, review lengths of stay, improve wayfinding and signage, promote less-used car parks, incentivise drivers to use available capacity elsewhere (Park & Ride, “park & stride”).
• Expected outcomes: Reduced congestion, more parking availability, better customer experiences, improved town centre access, better support for people to shop locally & stay in town longer, town centres become more vibrant and thriving.
Possible policy changes being considered in the Parking Review:
• Cross-funding for public/ community transport: Dorset Council (DC) hopes to improve their parking services. That may generate new surplus income from parking. If it does, then DC wants to use that surplus income to financially support and improve public and community transport services countywide. In this way, people without access to a car can get to where they want to go. This work will be one part in the much wider work on the Dorset Local Transport Plan.
• Integration of public and community transport: how to move towards a joined-up transport system (community transport, buses, coaches, railways)?
• Locally set parking tariffs: setting parking tariffs on a town-by-town basis (replacing the current countywide tariffs) to reflect local needs, while also being set at levels that fully meet the cost of providing parking services and car parks
• Resident discounts: considering options to make parking affordable for locals
• Underused car parks: Some car parks are badly underused. Should they be enhanced, or used for something else, or host ‘pop up’ events (markets, sports, car boot sales, etc), or redeveloped, or sold off?
• Emissions-based tariffs: should lower emission vehicles pay less to park, and/or should higher emission vehicles pay more to park?
Dorset Council will be holding a series of online engagement events to hear the views and experiences of parish and town councils before any formal consultation takes place.
These sessions are not part of a formal consultation, as no detailed proposals have been developed and no decisions have yet been made.
Dorset Council’s Cabinet is expected to consider and agree its proposals at its meeting on 6 October 2026. Following this, a formal public consultation is planned to run from November 2026 to February 2027.
The online events are therefore an opportunity for Parish Meetings and Local Councils to share their thoughts at an early stage and help inform the development of future proposals.
1 – DC countywide introduction to the listening events – everyone to join
No registration needed just click on the link below for the date/time that works best for you. This will provide an overview of the listening events that are to follow for your locations so that the time in the location events to hear views can be maximised:
12 noon Tue 28 July LINK HERE
3 – 4pm Thu 30 July LINK HERE
2 – Register for the Listening Event for your location
Coastal area: listening events via Zoom
We expect this event will interest these towns and their surrounding areas: Dorchester and nearby villages
12 – 1pm Thu 13 Aug – REGISTER HERE
3 – 4 pm Tue 18 Aug – REGISTER HERE
Written submissions are welcome (deadline 15 Sept 2026) by email to
With around 100 members any business in Dorset can join Dorchester Chamber from business for £60p/a (no VAT).
