New parking charges to be put in place at Orton Mere and Thorpe Wood

From the week commencing July 5, the parking tariff will be £1.50 for the first hour and £2.50 for up to 24 hours.

Visitors will have a five-minute grace period and will need to pay for their parking via card at the cashless machines at the start of their visit or by using the Saba Parking UK App.

The Trust has opted for the ‘green’ environmentally friendly solar powered and ticketless machines to eliminate the need for paper tickets and additional energy consumption.

A new annual parking membership will be available to offer a cost effective alternative to regular visitors to these car parks. The cost of an annual parking membership will be £40 (which equates to just 77p a week) and will give members access to both the Orton Mere car park and the Thorpe Meadows car park.

Memberships can be purchased directly at www.sabaparking.co.uk/nene-park-car-parks. Parking members will also receive other benefits to use across Nene Park such as 10% discount on retail purchases at the Visitor Centre & Gift Shop and the Lakeside Farm Shop, plus 10% discount on activities at Nene Outdoors Watersports and Activity Centre.

The new parking membership will not apply at Thorpe Wood as this car park is predominately located for visitors to the golf course and Woodman Pub in that vicinity, rather than as an access point for the Park.

The trust says that the income generated from parking is an essential source of funding, which enables them to maintain and nurture the beautiful landscapes of Nene Park. As a charity with no funding from taxpayers, Nene Park Trust needs to secure additional income, all of which will be invested back into the Park.

Nene Park has seen an accelerated rise in visitor numbers over the past 18 months and with this increase, the requirement for maintaining and renewing the Park’s infrastructure has also grown, along with the ever-rising cost of litter picking and waste management. I

Introducing parking charges to the car parks at Orton Mere and Thorpe Wood will ensure that the Trust can invest more into these areas of the Park, with the income generated from charges contributing towards the increasing costs of care, maintenance and facilities at Orton Mere, Thorpe Wood and the wider Park.

Nick Danks, Director of Finance and Business Services at Nene Park Trust commented: “We are constantly reviewing ways of improving the Park to provide the best possible experience for our visitors.

“The last eighteen months have been challenging for us, as with so many businesses, and the introduction of these modest charges will go some way to allowing us to maintain the high standards you have come to expect and which, other than parking, remains free for all to use.”