MORE than £21,100 has been raised from a town car park where free parking was controversially axed a year ago - 60 per cent of it from fines.

Bath and North East Somerset Council (B&NES) last March introduced parking charges to the previously free South Road car park, in Midsomer Norton despite local businesses warning it would ‘kill the town’.

Now, a year on, B&NES Cllr Shaun Hughes has ridiculed the authority for its failed experiment.

Cllr Huges said: “It is clear the project has failed on every possible metric.

“In the whole of 2025, the car park generated a paltry £8,435 in parking fees while a significantly higher sum of £12,675 was generated through penalty notices.

“This means revenue is primarily derived from penalising our residents, often while they are attempting to use the free parking period.”

The council said it did not have a breakdown of the cost of enforcement, but parking services made 426 visits to the car park between March, 2025, and March 2 this year, a total of 168 working hours.

Cllr Hughes said: “It is safe to conclude once enforcement and infrastructure costs are factored in, this scheme is running at a significant financial loss.

“The economic and social costs are even more severe.

“Since these charges were introduced, visiting times have reduced, local businesses have been forced to close, citing these charges as a primary factor, surrounding residential roads and cul-de-sacs are now plagued with vehicle displacement.

“This experiment is losing the council tens of thousands of pounds that could be better spent on more important issues like tackling isolation in our elderly or better youth provision or, a novel idea, improving bus services to reduce car dependency.”

In a compromise move, B&NES agreed the first two hours of parking would remain free.