Flintshire announces Annual Review of Fees and Charges

Flintshire Council Cabinet Members will be asked to approve a revised schedule of fees and charges when they meet on Tuesday 18th July.

The 2023 review of fees and charges has been completed in line with the Council’s Income Generation Policy, which sets out the rationale and process for an annual review of fees and charges.

Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Paul Johnson, said:

“The Council provides a wide range of services and some of these services are chargeable and contribute towards our Medium-Term Financial Strategy.

We review fees and charges annually to ensure they achieve full cost recovery or market comparable rate in line with the principles contained within the Council’s Income Generation Policy.

Fees and charges have been reviewed in line with inflation.”

The proposed changes include a 20p increase in car parking charges and new evening car parking charges at County Hall and Theatr Clwyd, Mold.  

Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Regional Transport Strategy, Councillor Dave Hughes, said: 

“Parking in Flintshire has always been exceptionally good value and competitively priced in our town centres.  

I am pleased to propose “free after three”, providing free parking in town centre car parks after 3pm Monday to Saturday.  The intention is to encourage residents and visitors to spend more time in our town centres for shopping and leisure, which in turn will support local businesses.

Users of the car parks will be able to continue to use cash at pay and display machines or use the PayByPhone app.”

The review also proposes to increase garden waste collections by £3 taking the £32 fee to £35 before 1st March and from £35 to £38 for subscriptions on or after 1st March.  

The Council has not increased garden waste collection charges for several years, the last review took place in 2018/19.  The proposed increase brings the charge in line with comparable local authorities and reflect inflationary costs.  Garden waste collections are not a statutory service, but the Council recognises the service is extremely popular and highly valued by thousands of residents across the county.

The proposed increase in the charge will ensure that the Council continue to subsidise the cost of providing this valued service to those households who want it.  The new charges will equate to an increase of 15p per collection per household.

Subject to approval, the new schedule of fees and charges are expected to be implemented on 1 October 2023.

A customer friendly version of the schedule of fees and charges will also be published on the Council’s website.