Sudbury supermarket Roy’s introduces parking charge refund scheme after reaching agreement with Babergh District Council

A long-awaited parking refund scheme is now in effect for Sudbury supermarket shoppers to mitigate the impact of charges introduced at car parks across the district.

As of Wednesday, Roy’s, in Great Eastern Road, is offering a full, immediate refund to anyone who uses its car park, when they spend £5 or more at the store.

The supermarket announced the scheme after talks with Babergh District Council, which had been ongoing since the authority implemented contentious new parking fees in January.

Applying to all district council-operated car parks in Sudbury, Hadleigh and Lavenham, these tariffs brought an end to the popular provision of three hours of free parking.

However, free parking had continued at the Great Eastern Road car park, which is owned by Roy’s, but managed by Babergh District Council, as talks between the two failed to reach a resolution prior to the new fees being implemented.

This joint arrangement at the site also raised questions about the legal framework for implementing the charges there.

On Monday, Roy’s confirmed that an agreement had now been reached with the council, to support its shoppers.

As a result, customers who spend at least £5 in store will be able to secure a refund on their parking charge, by presenting their parking ticket or using the digital MiParking app at the point of purchase.

A spokesman for Roy’s added that “an efficient process has been implemented at the tills” to enable a speedy refund, without delaying people’s usual shopping experience.

“Not only do our customers support our business, but they also play an integral part in our ability to give back to the community,” read a statement from Roy’s.

“These community values are as strong today as they were over a century ago, and have played a pivotal role in our discussions with the council to minimise the impact and inconvenience of any planned charges to our customers.

“We thank the council for working with us collaboratively to ensure our loyal customers are not impacted for parking to shop with us.

“We hope this goes some way to lessening the impact that charges may have had to our customers.”

A spokesperson for Babergh District Council added: “We have said throughout this process that we wanted to minimise the impact of the introduction of short-term car parking charges to Roys’ customers, and welcome the fact that the refund scheme is now up and running.”

In Sudbury’s other district council-owned car parks, the new tariffs have remained controversial, with many businesses reporting a decrease in footfall since their introduction.

Sudbury Chamber of Commerce and Sudbury Town Council stated last month that they would continue to survey shopkeepers and market traders to gauge the impact the parking charges are having.

Babergh District Council insists that the £425,000 annual cost of subsidising the previous three-hour free parking offer was no longer sustainable, and would jeopardise essential services if it continued.

The authority’s leadership argues that the new fees are modest, in comparison to those in neighbouring districts, and that long-stay parking is actually now cheaper.