Every council car park tariff from 7 April 2026, the 20 that cost nothing, and the one in Hatfield that charges on a Sunday when the rest does not.
Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council runs 34 car parks and publishes each one as a separate directory entry, so there is no single page telling you which are free and what the others charge. This is that page, read off all 34 records on 2 September 2026.
The short answer for Welwyn Garden City town centre: 30 minutes free if you take a ticket, then £2.35 up to two hours at Hunters Bridge, and free all day on Sundays and bank holidays. Hatfield is cheaper for a short stop and has the one car park in the borough that charges on a Sunday.
What the paid car parks cost
Tariffs took effect on 7 April 2026. Unless the table says otherwise, charging runs Monday to Saturday and Sunday is free.
| Car park | Spaces | Charging hours | 2 hours | 3 hours | Over 4 hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunters Bridge, WGC (multi-storey) | 634 | Mon-Sat 7am-6pm | £2.35 | £3.40 | £8.25 |
| Campus West, WGC (multi-storey) | 433 | Mon-Sat 8am-6pm | £2.30 | £3.80 | £9.25 |
| Campus East Lower, WGC | 325 | Mon-Sat 7am-6pm | £2.25 | £3.30 | £8.25 |
| Campus East Upper, WGC | 145 | Saturday only, 7am-6pm | £2.25 | £3.30 | £8.25 |
| Cherry Tree, WGC | 42 | Saturday only, 7am-6pm | £2.25 | £3.30 | £8.25 |
| The Common, Hatfield (multi-storey) | 420 | Mon-Sat 7am-6pm | Free | Free | £8.25 |
| Kennelwood Lane, Hatfield | 65 | Mon-Sun 7am-5.30pm | £4.40 | £4.40 | No stay over 4 hours |
| Maynard Place, Cuffley | 64 | Mon-Fri 8am-6pm, Sat 7.30am-1.30pm | 50p | £1.00 | £5.00 to 5 hours |
| Sopers Road, Cuffley | 87 | 24 hours, Mon-Sat | £5.50 a day, £3.50 after 10am, £2.50 after 5pm, £2 on Saturdays | ||
| Northaw Great Wood | — | Every day 8am-6pm | £1.20 all day, paid at the box by the toilet block | ||
Two things fall out of that table.
Hatfield town centre is free for three hours and Welwyn Garden City is not. Take a ticket at The Common multi-storey and a two-hour shop costs nothing. The same shop costs £2.35 at Hunters Bridge. Past four hours both towns land on £8.25 and the advantage disappears, which is the point: the cheap short stay is aimed at shoppers, not commuters.
Campus West is the most expensive place to leave a car all day in the borough, at £9.25 over four hours, a pound more than every other town-centre option. It also starts charging an hour later, at 8am.
Where you can park free
Fourteen council car parks are free with no time limit at all, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Most sit at neighbourhood shopping parades rather than in the town centres, which is why they are easy to miss.
Welwyn Garden City: Woodhall Parade on Cole Green Lane (130 spaces), Moors Walk (88), Westfield (43), Haldens (24), Shoplands (24), Hollybush Lane (22), The Lagoon on Waterside (20), Barn Theatre on Barn Close (18), Sherrardspark Woods on Rectory Road (16) and Lemsford Lane (14).
Welwyn village and the parishes: Lockleys Drive (41), Mardley Heath on Heath Road (25) and Titmus Yard (14), plus Broomfield Road (6).
Six more are free but time-limited:
- Lemsford Road, Hatfield: 149 spaces, and the useful part is that 82 of them are all-day bays, with 63 short-stay bays limited to four hours. There is a 1.8m height limit, the tightest in the borough.
- Peartree Lane, Welwyn Garden City: 49 spaces, two hours.
- The Broadway, Hatfield: 12 spaces, two hours with no return within two hours.
- High Street, Welwyn: 25 spaces, 90 minutes.
- Digswell Park Road (Viaduct): 25 spaces, two hours, and the limit only applies Monday to Friday 9am to 1pm.
- Batterdale B, Hatfield: free for two hours in the non-permit bays only, and you have to read the signs to work out which side of the car park you are on.
Six of the free car parks have four electric vehicle charging bays each, and those bays are for charging only: Haldens, Hollybush Lane, Moors Walk, Shoplands, Westfield and Woodhall Parade. Haldens caps them at four hours.
The Sunday trap
The council’s rule is that charges apply at Sunday rates on bank holidays, and Sunday rates are nil almost everywhere. There is exactly one exception, and the council states it plainly: only Kennelwood Lane in Hatfield charges for parking on a Sunday.
Kennelwood Lane charges Monday to Sunday, 7am to 5.30pm. You get an hour free with a ticket, then £4.40 up to four hours, and no stay over four hours is allowed at all. It also shuts to the public between 5.30pm and 9pm. If you are visiting the Hatfield Vista development on a Sunday, that is the car park to avoid.
One inconsistency to know about. Northaw Great Wood is filed in the council’s own directory as “Free - Surface level” and then charges £1.20 for the day. The £1.20 is correct; the label is not.
Restrictions that never lift, bank holiday or not: double yellow lines, the verge and footway parking ban, disabled bays where signed, and loading restrictions.
Resident permits
Parts of the borough are on-street permit zones. Prices below run from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027.
| Permit | Price a year |
|---|---|
| Resident, first vehicle | £46.50 |
| Resident, second vehicle | £75.50 |
| Resident, third, fourth or fifth vehicle | £105.00 |
| Resident motorcycle | £24.50 |
| Personal carer | £46.50 |
| Visitor vouchers, 20 daily sessions | £22.40 |
| Business, address inside a permit zone | £290 |
| Business, all on-street resident zones | £1,000 |
| Doctor or health visitor, all zones | Free |
Three details worth having before you apply.
- A Blue Badge makes the first resident permit free. The discount applies to one vehicle in the household only, and further permits are charged at their normal second or third vehicle rate. It does not apply in car parks.
- Visitor vouchers are capped at 240 days a year per property, and residents who can prove they draw a state pension get 50% off.
- Changing the registration on a permit costs £15, and the council charges it “regardless on if the physical vehicle has changed or not”. Cancelling costs £15 per permit, so cancelling two permits is £30.
Zone B04 is the outlier: one resident permit maximum, and no visitor vouchers or business permits at all.
Blue Badge parking
A Blue Badge in Welwyn Hatfield gets you more than a marked bay.
- Resident permit zones: park without a permit or voucher, no time limit.
- Limited waiting bays, the ones signed “1 hour”: park without the time restriction.
- Yellow lines: up to three hours, provided the badge and clock are displayed, the clock is set to your arrival time, and there are no loading restrictions. Check for yellow kerb dashes.
- Paid car parks: three hours free in a marked bay with the badge and clock displayed. Kennelwood Lane gives four.
Where it does not work: loading bans, verges and footways, bus stops, loading bays, and any car park where you have not paid and are not in a marked disabled bay. Advisory bays are courtesy bays with no enforcement, so no badge is needed and none is protected.
Blue Badges themselves are issued by Hertfordshire County Council, not the borough, and so are disabled bays outside a home.
Disabled bays by car park: The Common and Hunters Bridge have 18 each, Campus East Lower 10, Moors Walk 10, Kennelwood Lane 5 plus two disabled electric bays, and Lemsford Road 4.
Station parking
Both station car parks are run by APCOA rather than the council, and they price completely differently from each other.
- Welwyn Garden City, Osborn Way, AL8 6TU. 401 spaces, 78 with EV charging. £2.95 for up to three hours, £6.20 for 12 hours, £7.50 for 24. At weekends it drops to £2.50 for three hours and £5.50 for 12.
- Hatfield, 79 Great North Road, AL9 5AB. 369 spaces, 19 disabled and 12 with EV charging. A flat £10.10 a day, plus a 15p convenience fee on every tariff. £3.70 from 5pm on weekdays and £3.80 at weekends. Blue Badge holders park free.
So Hatfield is the more expensive of the two by £2.60 a day on a weekday, and the cheaper by £1.70 at a weekend. Season tickets at Hatfield run £43.30 a week, £162.70 a month or £1,387 a year.
Fares and train times from both stations are on Welwyn Garden City train times to London.
Season tickets in council car parks
- Hunters Bridge and Campus East Lower, WGC: £95 a month or £265 for three months.
- Campus West, WGC: £115 a month or £315 for three months.
- The Common and Dog Kennel Lane, Hatfield: a local worker and town centre resident ticket at £105 for three months or £315 a year. Dog Kennel Lane, off Queensway, is season ticket holders only.
- Northaw Great Wood: £35 for the year.
All are digital and applied for through the council’s website. Cancelling costs £30 per season ticket.
Height limits
Worth checking before you drive in with a roof box or a van.
- Lemsford Road, Hatfield: 1.8m, the tightest in the borough
- Hunters Bridge, WGC: 2m
- The Common, Hatfield, and Northaw Great Wood: 2.1m
- Campus West, Campus East Upper, Cherry Tree, The Broadway, Batterdale B, Dog Kennel Lane, Digswell Park Road: 2.3m
- Campus East Lower: 3m, but lower under the garages, and a five-tonne weight limit
Frequently asked questions
Where can I park free in Welwyn Garden City?
In the town centre, the first 30 minutes are free with a ticket and Sundays and bank holidays are free in every council car park. There is no all-day free option in the centre itself. The free car parks are at the shopping parades: Woodhall Parade, Moors Walk, Westfield, Haldens, Shoplands, Hollybush Lane, The Lagoon, Barn Close, Sherrardspark Woods and Lemsford Lane, all with no time limit. Peartree Lane is free for two hours.
How much is parking in Hatfield town centre?
Nothing for up to three hours at The Common multi-storey if you take a ticket, then £4.45 for three to four hours and £8.25 beyond that. Lemsford Road is free, with 82 all-day bays. The Broadway is free for two hours.
Is parking free on bank holidays in Welwyn Hatfield?
Yes in every council car park except Kennelwood Lane in Hatfield, which charges at Sunday rates. Resident permit zones are not enforced and visitor vouchers do not need activating. Double yellow lines, loading bans and the verge parking ban still apply.
How much is a resident parking permit?
£46.50 a year for the first vehicle, £75.50 for a second and £105 for a third. It is free for the first vehicle if you hold a Blue Badge. Motorcycles are £24.50.
Can I park on a yellow line with a Blue Badge?
Yes, for up to three hours, with the badge and a parking clock set to your arrival time on display, and only where there is no loading restriction.
Which is cheaper, Welwyn Garden City or Hatfield station?
Welwyn Garden City on a weekday, at £7.50 for 24 hours against £10.10. Hatfield at a weekend, at £3.80 against £5.50 for 12 hours.
Sources
- Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council car park directory, all 34 records read on 2 September 2026, for every tariff, capacity, height limit, disabled bay count, charging hour and season ticket price above. Tariffs are stated on each record as valid from 7 April 2026.
- Parking permit prices for the permit and voucher table, the Blue Badge discount, the £15 change and cancellation fees and the Zone B04 restriction, valid 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027.
- Parking on bank holidays for the Sunday rates rule, the Kennelwood Lane exception and the restrictions that stay in force.
- Disabled parking for where a Blue Badge is and is not valid.
- Visitor parking permits for the 240-voucher cap and the state pension discount.
- APCOA Welwyn Garden City and APCOA Hatfield station, checked 2 September 2026, for station tariffs, capacities and season tickets.
Tariffs change and signs beat websites. Check the boards in the car park before you pay. Also useful: roadworks and travel, bin collection days and Welwyn Hatfield council tax bands.
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