The lure of free parking at a new development in Farnham has been blamed for a big drop in parking ticket sales at the town’s main car parks.

But Waverley Borough Council is hopeful of luring some motorists back as “tactical” new ticket machines that could potentially offer deals will be installed around the town.

There was some number crunching at the last Farnham BID meeting as the impacts of town centre improvements on car parks were discussed.

Figures for the first five months of 2025 show that ticket sales at WBC’s seven car parks – Central, Lower and Upper Hart, Waggon Yard, South Street, Farnham Leisure, St James and the Riverside sites – fell by 7.3 per cent between January and May.

Some 121,924 sales were made in January compared to 112,952 in May, with the finger being pointed at Brightwells Yard for the hefty drop.

The latter opened in December with 178 free-to-park bays and is consistently full these days, while spaces at the likes of Central Car Park – once a rarity – are now frequently available as the likes of Borelli’s Bar & Grill owner David Quick, will happily point out.

And while the impact of the town centre improvement project on town centre parking sales can’t be fully discounted, with a big drop in sales at Waggon Yard being noted, the correlation seems fairly clear with Cllr Tony Fairclough highlighting the elephant in the room.

He said: “For clarity, we know Waggon Yard has been affected by the work as it hasn’t looked easy to get into.

“But our belief is that it will return to previous levels, especially when Downing Street is fully open again.”

“It’s our belief that Brightwells is now an internal worker car park,” said Cllr Fairclough in noting the 7.3 per cent drop in use at WBC’s town centre car parks.

“People get in there at half eight or 9am and park there all day because they’re working in the town. Some commuters are now using it, too.”

But while user levels at Riverside car parks seems to be returning to previous levels, changes are afoot as WBC he revealed the council has “invested a considerable amount of money” into new ticket machines.

The machines will allow WBC to do “tactical offers” and will be installed around Farnham by the end of September, with other Waverley town centres getting them soon.

While the details were not confirmed at the meeting, such machines can encourage motorists to stay longer through discounts or specific payment methods.

Cllr Fairclough added: “Rather than just get people in, park and they disappear, it’s actually designed to attract visitors and get them to stay that little bit longer so they can spend more time in shops and hospitality outlets.

“It’s a shame we weren’t able to have them in place before the start of the Downing Street work but it wasn’t possible. They’ll be there for October or November.

“If it works then we will expand the trial.”