Monday May 18th 2026
Cannongate car park, Scottish Borders
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
Charges at Scottish Borders Council-run car parks will more than double if a new regime is endorsed this week.
Members of SBC will be asked to agree a series of off-street parking recommendations when they meet on Thursday, May 21.
The aim is to offer residents a “clearer and more consistent” offer.
In most town centre car parks (such as Galashiels or Peebles), a standard one hour stay is typically 40p.
Under the new proposals a standard ‘£1 per hour’ parking tariff would be introduced at the local authority’s 14 car parks where charges already apply.
The proposals come from a council members/officers working group set up in March last year.
The review was commissioned to address long-standing inconsistencies between towns and villages, modernise the policy and ensure that parking arrangements support economic vitality, accessibility and fairness.
Another recommendation is to standardise the charging days and hours across all charged off-street car parks to Monday to Saturday, 8.30am to 5pm.
Agreement is also sought in principle to extend pay and display charging (using the same standard tariff) to 19 additional off-street car parks.
Further recommendations include introducing a new annual charge for parking permits at £150, increasing the off-street Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) fee to £100 and to undertake a review of existing charity and NHS parking permits, including whether they should continue and, if so, under what clear criteria and conditions.
A report to members states: “If approved and implemented, the package will create a clearer and more consistent offer for residents, visitors and businesses.
“It is expected to improve space availability and turnover in key locations, support local economic activity, and generate additional income that can be managed transparently and reinvested (within the limits of the law) in parking provision, public transport and road improvement priorities.
“It also enables a more equitable approach, so that the benefits of parking income can be distributed more fairly across the Scottish Borders.
“The current tariffs have been in place at the current level for five years, it is reasonable given that the costs of providing the service during that time have all increased, that tariffs are increased.”
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