Basingstoke's council car parks would charge on bank holidays from April 2027 under draft budget plans. Garden waste would rise to £90 and council tax by £5.
Basingstoke’s council car parks would stop being free on bank holidays under draft budget plans published for next week’s Cabinet. Drivers would pay on every bank holiday except Easter Sunday and Christmas Day. Blue Badge holders would still park free.
The plan is in the borough council’s draft 2027/28 budget report, which goes to Cabinet on Tuesday 10 November. If Cabinet agrees, a public consultation runs from 11 November 2026 to 4 January 2027. Final decisions come in February 2027, for a budget that starts in April.
What changes for drivers
At the moment every borough council car park is free on bank holidays except Good Friday. The council’s car park charges page says so, and our parking guide has relied on it.
The report gives the council’s reasons:
- Festival Place, which is not a council car park, already charges on all bank holidays.
- The charges would raise about £40,000 a year, based on what the car parks take on an average day.
- The money would go towards “operating, maintaining and improving the car parks”.
There are eight bank holidays in England each year. Easter Sunday is not one of them, so in practice the change would add charges on New Year’s Day, Easter Monday, the two May bank holidays, the August bank holiday and Boxing Day. Christmas Day stays free. Good Friday is already charged.
Most parking tariffs would also go up by about 3% from April. A selection from the council’s proposed fees and charges:
| Car park and stay | Now | Proposed 2027/28 |
|---|---|---|
| Long stay (Churchill Way, Southern Road and others), up to 2 hours | £2.50 | £2.60 |
| Long stay, over 8 hours | £11.80 | £12.20 |
| Short stay, over 4 hours | £14.20 | £14.60 |
| Central and Joices Yard, up to 1 hour | £1.40 | £1.40 |
| The Malls (Alencon Link), up to 1 hour | £1.90 | £2.00 |
| Five-day season ticket, a year | £1,151 | £1,186 |
Two other lines in the papers are worth knowing about.
The free first hour. The fees table lists the first hour at Albert Yard, Castons Yard and Jacobs Yard at £1.40 in 2027/28, against “Free 2026/27”. The report itself does not mention ending the free hour, and it counts no income from doing so. Treat it as unconfirmed until the council says what it intends.
The Malls car park works. The council’s car parks page still says the resurfacing of The Malls car park “will finish in Autumn 2026”. The budget papers say the works “are not expected to be completed until June 2027”. That is why the council expects only £40,000 of extra parking income next year rather than £60,000.
Council tax, garden waste and planning fees
The borough’s share of council tax would rise by £5 a year for a Band D home, from £151.42 to £156.42. That is the most a district council can add without a referendum. Hampshire County Council, the police, the fire service and parish councils set their own shares separately.
The garden waste subscription would also go up:
| Garden waste service | Now | Proposed 2027/28 |
|---|---|---|
| 240-litre bin or sacks | £87 | £90 |
| 240-litre bin or sacks, concession | £59 | £61 |
| 140-litre bin | £60 | £62 |
| 140-litre bin, concession | £32 | £33 |
Planning application fees would rise by an extra 10% on top of the national increase, using new powers in the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025. Householder applications are exempt. The council expects this to raise £140,000 a year, which would pay for more planning enforcement staff. Building control fees would rise by 5%.
What the council would spend more on
The report proposes £560,000 of new spending in 2027/28. The items residents are most likely to notice:
- A second fly-tipping enforcement officer. The council recorded 2,631 fly-tipping incidents in 2025/26. It issued 39 fixed penalty notices and won 16 prosecutions that year, against 27 and 7 the year before. One officer leads on this work now.
- Allotments: £80,000 next year for plot clearance, safety work and maintenance, so plots can be re-let faster and the waiting list cut.
- More mixed recycling banks, at £90,000 over three years.
- The War Memorial on London Road: £30,000 over three years to repair and possibly clean the Grade II listed memorial after a War Memorials Trust survey. The council will also consider adding the names of those who have died in conflict since the Second World War.
What would be cut
The report lists £490,000 of savings in 2027/28. They include:
- Limitless, the action sports event first held in July 2025, would end. The report says it drew 2,000 people in 2026. It would save £35,000 and put £10,000 into Let’s Glow, which drew 15,000 people in February 2026.
- Town centre jet washing would be scaled back, saving £150,000 a year.
- Three vacant or held posts would go, including a Manydown project role.
The biggest new cost is the leisure contract. Places Leisure takes over the Aquadrome, Tadley Swimming Pool and the Golf Centre from Serco on 1 January 2027. After the saving from no longer paying Serco, the council expects the new contract to add £600,000 to its costs in 2027/28. The report says the payments fall in later years, until the new water and leisure centre at Leisure Park is built.
The bigger picture
The report says the budget balances in 2027/28 and 2028/29. It forecasts a gap of £1.57 million in 2029/30, down from £1.93 million in February’s forecast.
Every figure assumes the borough council carries on as it is. The government is still reviewing its decision on local government reorganisation in Hampshire, and borough elections are due in May 2027. Our story on the council’s future explains where that stands.
What it means for you
- Nothing changes yet. These are proposals. The earliest any of them could start is April 2027.
- If you park in town on bank holidays, this is the change that affects you most. Say so in the consultation.
- The consultation should open on 11 November and close on 4 January 2027, if Cabinet approves it on 10 November. The council says it will publicise it through its residents’ newspaper, its website and social media.
- Garden waste subscribers would pay £3 more a year for a standard bin in 2027/28.
The Cabinet meeting starts at 6.30pm on Tuesday 10 November. The agenda and all papers are on the council’s website.
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