FROM Monday, those visiting Brentwood and Shenfield at night will be charged £2 to park in all council owned car parks.

Brentwood Borough Council agreed in July that it would launch a three month trial of charging those visting and parking in the town in the evening, in the hope that the cost of parking during the day could eventually be reduced.

The new charge, which starts on Monday, will be a flat rate of £2 between the hours of 7pm and 6am in all council owned car parks in Brentwood and Shenfield, exclusing the multi-storey.

The council will now monitor the scheme to see what impact it has on businesses and residents, with the business and town centre committee updated on a regular basis.

A full report on will be presented to the committee in February.

David Kendall, Lib Dem councillor and chairaman of the town centre committee, said: “This is the first step in trying to achieve a fair balance between day and night when it comes to parking.

“Our aim is to reduce the cost of day time parking charges and this scheme will help us work towards that.”