Parking machines to be phased out in coming years

Members of the Environment, Climate Emergency and Transport Committee last night agreed recommendations for the phasing out of pay‑and‑display parking machines in Wirral car parks in favour of payment by app or phone.

The report presented to committee identified a number of reasons why moving away from traditional pay‑and‑display machines is a good idea for the future, which included increasing costs of maintenance and the ageing equipment becoming increasingly obsolete in terms of advancing technology.

It also reflects a national behavioural shift towards greater use of mobile payments with data up to early 2026 indicating that many UK councils have already removed, or plan to remove, traditional pay‑and‑display machines. The report also stated that retaining or replacing pay‑and‑display machines was not financially or operationally sustainable.

Wirral’s cashless parking system, provided by JustPark, has been in operation for more than six years. The system allows motorists to pay by mobile app or phone in under a minute, receive expiry reminders, extend parking sessions remotely and access digital parking histories and VAT receipts. It costs 6p extra per transaction to use.

The recommendation that passed sets out plans for a phased removal of machines beginning in 2026/27. In 2027/28 the idea is to reduce the number of machines to just one in each car park and then have them removed altogether by the end of 2030.

In a related decision last night, members decided to defer a decision on implementing car parking charges in council off-street car parks that are currently free to the Policy and Resources Committee.