New parking charges introduced for Parkrun in Peterborough

The popular Saturday morning community 5k event is held every weekend, beginning from the Ferry Meadows Cafe at 9am.

Discounted parking was previously available around the park but starting from February 1, the trust is introducing new parking charges.

Regular attendees will be able to sign up for an annual Parkrun parking pass at the cost of £45 a year. This will give access to the car park between 8am and 11am on Saturday mornings, without any need to visit a pay machine.

Despite earlier reports to the contrary, the trust has also insisted that regular volunteers will still receive free parking between 7am and 12pm; this will be managed on-site by the team at Ferry Meadows.

The trust has stated: “We have launched a new parking membership scheme for Ferry Meadows Parkrun to help reduce queues at the pay machines on Saturday mornings and improve the experience for all Park users. This is part of a wider parking streamlining process for many of the groups who regularly use Ferry Meadows, helping to make sure parking discounts are used correctly, supporting the Park for everyone to enjoy.

“Up until now, Parkrunners have benefited from a discounted parking rate of £1 for a Saturday morning Parkrun using their Parkrun bar code. In order to benefit from the discount, there have been long queues at the parking machines following the run. By introducing this new Parkrun membership scheme, we're aiming to improve the experience for runners on a Saturday morning who won’t need to visit the parking machines at all and can drive straight out of the Park. Other visitors to the Park at that time will also be able to access the parking machines more easily.

"The new annual Parkrun membership costs £45 and can be used every Saturday morning 8am-11am. For weekly Park runners, this is less than £1 a week and in comparison to paying regular parking charges, you only need to attend Parkrun 18 times in a year to have covered your parking costs.

"Occasional runners can continue to use the standard parking tariff but are able to pay online to avoid visiting the pay machines. Visit www.nenepark.org.uk/paymyparking."

To sign up for a parking membership, visit https://resources.nenepark.org.uk/parkrun.