COUNCIL bosses are calling on residents to ditch cash when they pay for parking as new payment systems prepare to be rolled out.

The town council wants residents to move away from using hard cash to pay for parking in Halstead.

New pay and display machines were introduced in November last year at the Butler Road and Chapel Street car parks.

The new machines let motorists pay via contactless card payments or cash.

The council says the machine were introduced in a bid to cut down on the need for staff to spend time counting money.

Now council bosses are appealing for residents to use their cards when paying for parking in the town.

They say the number of people paying with cash has plateaued, but the council still has to count about £1,000 in cash each week.

The council is looking to introduce a new payment system in April.

The system – called Mipermitt – will make it possible for people to pay for parking in the town using their mobile phone.

The changes will also coincide with a rise in parking charges.

From April 1, short-stay pay and display prices will increase from 70p and £1.50 to to £1 and £2 depending on the length of stay.

Annual tickets are also set to rise.

A spokesman said: “Halstead Town Council is making every effort to bring all its procedures into the 21st century. For many years, the car parks have only been usable by those who carried cash, and sometimes users of the car park were tempted to risk not paying and may have got away with it.

“During the pandemic there were frequent calls for a card facility on the pay and display machines. These were heeded, but it takes time for such things to be put in place.

“The car park machines were replaced in early November 2021, and there was an immediate use of that facility, which has continued but has levelled off.

“Surprisingly, there is still much more being taken through cash than through the card facility.

“Those using a card can receive a Sainsbury’s token, in the same way as if they had paid with cash.

“One of the aims of installing these machines was for the ease of the public, to avoid their having to carry cash. The other was to streamline the systems of the council, so that it did not have to count so much cash.

“This aim has not yet been realised. Can the public tell the council why they are not using the facility they requested?

“In addition, the council will be installing the MiPermit app in April 2022, which will allow car park users to pay by phone, and eventually to pay for permits through a portal.”