A district council is set to re-introduce car parking fees after they were suspended earlier this year.

East Suffolk Council will now re-introduce charging, with effect from Monday 25 May.

The council said it had listened to advice from the British Parking Association which said that prolonged ‘free’ parking is more likely to create additional traffic in popular, tourism areas which can impact on social distancing.

The charging ‘tariffs’ will remain at 2019-20 prices for the time being.

Before lockdown, East Suffolk Council was considering consultation responses for a revised parking strategy and tariff structure but these are still being considered at this stage.

Additional signage will be installed to remind people of the responsibilities they have for their health and wellbeing and of other car park users when they are using our facilities.

Norman Brooks, cabinet member for transport, said: “The suspension of car park charges was intended only as a temporary measure and charging is an absolutely critical part of our ability to maintain facilities which are hugely important for our communities.

“With more people now travelling, whilst we cannot prevent this, we can at least make decisions which may help East Suffolk’s towns and destinations to manage the number of people who visit, to support ongoing social distancing measures.”