A PERMIT-ONLY car park in Bridgwater is to be opened up to the general public under a trial for cashless payment.

The Blake car park was built on the former Blake hospital site on Northgate, and opened to permit holders in September 2017.

Sedgemoor District Council’s executive will meet on Wednesday morning (June 6) to discuss proposals to open the car park up – on the condition that no payments by cash will be taken there.

This comes as more than half of the council’s existing ticketing machines were branded “obsolete” by one of its officers, who also warned that more funding would be needed to replace them.

The council’s car parks are currently run on a pay and display basis, with visitors either paying with loose change or using the ‘Phone and Pay’ app on their mobile phone to pay electronically.

Currently, 12 per cent of car parking transactions – around one in eight – are done by Phone and Pay in Sedgemoor, and in some locations it is as high as 20 per cent.

Under the trial at the Blake site, only mobile payments or season tickets will be accepted.

READ: Former Bridgwater Community Hospital site on the market for £2.6m with planning permission for hotel

In a report to the council’s executive, community development officer Tom Dougall said that more money would be needed to replace the existing ticketing machines.

Of the 30 coin-operated machines which are currently operated by the council, 18 are “obsolete”; no new machines of their type have been manufactured since 2012, and external replacement parts – to be used when machines are crashed into or vandalised – are no longer available.

Mr Dougall said: “Those in Sedgemoor’s car parks are aged between seven and 13 years old. The current budget allows for replacement of two of these machines each year.

“It would be prudent to accelerate the replacement of these obsolete machines before corrosion and general wear renders them inoperative.”

The money to replace the machines will either have to come from external funding bids or from the council’s existing reserves.

Mr Dougall estimates in his report that it will cost £30,000 to replace all of the machines.

The council has not confirmed that all of its car parks would become cashless if the Blake trial were to prove successful.

However, Mr Dougall said that the council would be “factoring in new technologies now available” and would encourage more people to use cashless ticketing.

If approved, the Blake cashless trial will begin later this year and would last for 12 months.

The executive committee meeting where the proposal will be discussed will be held at the council’s headquarters on King Square in Bridgwater on Wednesday (June 6) at 10am. The public are welcome to attend.