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15
Apr
Council awards £3 million contact for pay-on-arrival parking machine installation
North Yorkshire Council has appointed a contractor at a cost of £3.25 million to install new payment machines in the county’s car parks.
The authority revealed plans in April 2025 to overhaul its parking machines amid concern that they had become outdated.
Now, the council has appointed Doncaster-based IPS Group to supply, install and maintain the new machines at its pay-on-arrival car parks for the next three years.
Pay-on-arrival machines allow people to enter their vehicle registration numbers and pay for a set amount of time.
The installations are expected to be completed by the end of September.
The Stray Ferret asked the council why it had opted for pay-on-arrival machines and why it had chosen to install them at this stage.
A spokesperson said:
The council wants to ensure that residents and visitors have flexible payment choices and that car parks are equipped with the latest technology. Customers will still be able to pay with cash.
The move will see the company install the facilities at 430 locations in the county, including in Harrogate.
It will not affect Victoria and Jubilee car parks as those sites already have pay-on-arrival terminals.
However, the introduction of pay-on-arrival machines has led to concern from Harrogate business organisations.
Martin Mann, chief executive of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce.
In January, Martin Mann, chief executive of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce, said the move had deterred people from staying longer and spending money in bars and restaurants because they were worried about getting back to their vehicles before their parking time expired.
Speaking at a chamber meeting attended by leading figures at North Yorkshire Council, he said:
We are finding that people are not spending as much time in town. They will pay for three hours and then don’t go on to hospitality.
Mr Mann added many people did not realise you could extend parking through the AppyParking app. He also questioned why motorists could pay on exit in other parts of the county, including Scarborough and York, but not Harrogate.
Karl Battersby, the council’s corporate director for environment, said it had implemented the changes because the old parking machines were “falling over, basically”. He added:
We have gone from pay and display to park and stay so it doesn’t require a ticket but you pay for the time you think you need. The reason we did it is a) expedience, because the machines were falling over but also because we had lots of issues with previous kit. It required us to have an onsite presence all the time because the machines were always breaking and people couldn’t get a ticket.
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