Parking around Wycombe could be shaken up with a raft of new measures – including adding levels to all of the district council’s surface car parks, updating electric signs and improving the Handy Cross Park and Ride.

In a bid to tackle the growing problem of parking – or lack of it – in the district, a special task group was set to up to see what improvements could be made.

After months of meetings, the group – which was headed up by Cllr Lesley Clarke OBE - has pulled together a string of 15 recommendations that will now be put forward to next week’s Wycombe District Council’s cabinet for them to decide on.

If given the go-ahead, parking provision could be given a radical overhaul in Wycombe.

A suggestion has been made to stack all surface car parks in a bid to increase the number of spaces for shoppers.

Although this suggestion has been put forward, the Bucks Free Press previously asked the council what it thought of calls in Marlow to add decks to the Riley Road car park after complaints of congestion back in 2016 – and the idea was quashed amid concerns over the costs.

The Handy Cross Park and Ride should also have levels added to it “as soon as practicable” to provide long-term airport parking amid plans to provide a new bus to Heathrow Airport from the Park and Ride.

Bucks Free Press:

Wycombe's park and ride and Coachway at Handy Cross

An agreed parking strategy could be put in place to ensure all car parks have the same sized car parking spaces, opening times, levels of cleanliness, provision of disabled and parent and child parking bays.

Thirty minutes free parking in all car parks could also be considered, as well as increasing the number of buses for the Handy Cross Park and Ride from three to four.

In a bid to encourage more people to use the Park and Ride, it should be kept free for people parking and then using the bus service to and from the town centre.

New barriers and payment system also need to put in place “as soon as possible”, the group suggests – so those using the car park for other reasons can be charged.

All town centre car parks should be refurbished because they are all “past their original replacement date” and a co-ordinated parking strategy needs to be put in place with partners such as Chiltern Railways and the Eden Shopping Centre.

Meanwhile, parking at supermarkets in the town centre should also be looked at because some have upped their free parking to three hours, which could be in breach of their planning permission.

Electronic signs showing how many parking spaces are available in the town centre should also be updated to show all car parks availability amid concerns the information is not accurate.

The plans will be considered by the cabinet on Monday, September 16.