16/06/2026
๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ โ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐!
Ahead of Thursday's Town Council vote on whether to support a second paid town centre car park on the current Clare Social Club site, we wanted to understand how busy the existing car park actually is.
So we submitted a Freedom of Information request to West Suffolk Council, who manage the car park payments for the Trust.
The result was that they provided granular data on:
* 87,634 parking sessions
* 2 full years of parking data: time, day, date, ticket length etc...
* Every ticket machine and RingGo transaction
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฑ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐-๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ซ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ค ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ, ๐จ๐ง ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐, ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐.๐% ๐จ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ข๐๐.
This isn't a survey. It isn't opinion. It isn't a snapshot taken on a quiet Tuesday morning.
It is the actual parking data from West Suffolk Council who manage the car park payments on behalf of Clare Castle Country Park Trust.
Some of the key findings:
โข Average occupancy: ๐๐.๐๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ก๐ข๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ (๐๐.๐% ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ)
โข Average peak-hour occupancy (12pm-2pm): ๐๐.๐๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ก๐ข๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ (๐๐.๐% ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ)
โข Average Saturday occupancy: ๐๐.๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ก๐ข๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ (๐๐.๐% ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ)
โข The car park operated ๐๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐% ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐% of open hours.
โข Even on Saturdays, it only gets to 90% capacity for just ๐.๐% ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐
We are not suggesting that parking isn't important.
Nor are we suggesting there are never busy periods.
However, on Thursday, Clare Town Council will be asked to vote on Motion 5.1b:
"To consider that the Council agrees to support the provision of a new town centre car park on land currently occupied by the Social Club within Clare Castle Country Park."
Given the significance of that decision, we believe residents should have the opportunity to see the actual parking data evidence, and make up their own minds.
Some supporting graphs are included in this post.
Has the need for a second paid town centre car park been clearly demonstrated?
Clare Social Club
