Parking in Bury: Sunday Costs £1.50, Prestwich Is Free

Parking in this borough is two different things depending on which town you are in. In Bury town centre you pay. In Prestwich, Radcliffe, Whitefield, Ramsbottom and Tottington, every council car park is free, and so are six of them in Bury outside the town centre.

The trap is Sunday. Bury town centre is not free on a Sunday, and the charge is not the same off-street as on-street. Every figure below comes from Bury Council’s own parking pages, checked on 26 August 2026.

The quick answer

• Council car parks are free from 6pm to 8am, every night.
• Sunday is £1.50 all day in a town centre car park and £1 all day on street. It is not free.
• Two hours costs £2.40 in a car park, or £3.10 to £4.10 on street.
• Council car parks outside Bury town centre are free, with no time limit except at Clifton Road in Prestwich.
• Metrolink park and ride is free at Bury, Radcliffe and Whitefield with a valid tram ticket.
• The council has stopped taking applications for new resident parking schemes and for advisory disabled bays.

Bury town centre car parks

The council runs twelve car parks in and around the town centre. Nine of them share a single tariff. All are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and free after 6pm until 8am.

The standard charges, Monday to Saturday:

• up to 2 hours: £2.40
• up to 3 hours: £2.70
• up to 4 hours: £3.20
• up to 5 hours: £4.30
• more than 5 hours: £6.00
• Sunday, all day: £1.50

More than five hours costs £13.00, not £6.00, at Castle, Parsons Lane North and Parsons Lane South. That is more than double, and it is the single most expensive mistake available in Bury town centre. Those three sit right by the shops, which is exactly why people leave a car there all day.

Two car parks have a cheaper short stay the others do not. Castle Leisure Centre charges 10p for up to ten minutes and £1 for up to an hour. Moorgate charges £1 for up to an hour. Bolton Street Station car park is the odd one out at the other end: it has no Sunday rate listed at all.

Payment is by PayByPhone or at the machine.

On-street parking in the town centre

On street is more expensive than the car parks for a short stay and cheaper for a long one, and it is £1 on a Sunday rather than £1.50. It is free from 6pm to 8am like the car parks.

There are three sets of bays:

• One-hour bays at Back Haymarket Street, Broad Street, Market Place, Moss Street, The Rock and Tithebarn Street. 30 minutes £1.20, one hour £2.10.
• Two-hour bays at Bank Street, Bolton Street, Castlecroft Road, Cecil Street, Foundry Street, George Street, Glenmore Street, Irwell Street, Knowsley Street, Manchester Road, Market Street, North Back Rock, Parsons Lane, St Mary’s Place, Silver Street and The Wylde. 30 minutes £1.20, one hour £2.10, two hours £3.10. Two hours costs £4.10 at Bank Street, Manchester Road, St Mary’s Place, Silver Street and The Wylde.
• Four-hour bays at Bland Street/Moor Street and Hornby Street, and these are much cheaper: 30 minutes 60p, one hour £1, two hours £1.60, three hours £2.30, four hours £2.70. Forty-three spaces between them.

One caveat worth flagging. The council’s on-street page opens by saying Sunday parking on street is £1, then prints “Sunday, all day, £1.50” under the four-hour bays. The two statements are on the same page and they contradict each other, so check the sign at Bland Street and Hornby Street before assuming £1.

Free parking across the borough

Every council car park outside Bury town centre is free. In Prestwich, Radcliffe and Whitefield:

• Prestwich: Fairfax Road (162 spaces), Longfield Centre (160), Brooklands on Bury Old Road (20), Chapel Street (18), George Street (18), Upper Wilton Street (17), Clifton Road (16), Park Street (15), Whittaker Lane (5).
• Radcliffe: Civic Suite East (87), Railway Street (53), Canal on Water Street (41), Mather Street (31), Robert Street (25), Library on Stand Lane (22), Civic Suite West (22), Blackburn Street (21), Cross Street (20), Riverside on Spring Lane (20), Moss Shaw Way (16), Thomas Street (9), Alma Street (8), Irwell Street (7).
• Whitefield: Lily Hill Street (48).

Clifton Road in Prestwich is the one with a catch: parking is limited to two hours with no return within an hour.

In Bury outside the town centre, Ramsbottom and Tottington, also free:

• Bury: Kay Street (49), Heywood Street (20), Bell Lane (10), Brookshaw Street (11), Topping Street (13), Fairfield Drive (13, school hours only).
• Ramsbottom: Market North on Union Street (36), Station on Railway Street (29), Prince Street (24), Grants Arms at Market Place (23), Library on Carr Street (14), Market West (10), Market East (4 plus 6 disabled), King Street (3 disabled bays).
• Tottington area: Lomond Drive (23), Chapel Street (16).

Park and ride

Metrolink park and ride is free to passengers with a valid Metrolink ticket, and there is a lot of it on the Bury line:

All three open 05:00 to 01:00 on weekdays and bank holidays, and around the clock at weekends. Radcliffe and Whitefield have a 2.3 metre height restriction, and Radcliffe has two electric charging points.

The rule people fall foul of is overnight. Under TfGM’s terms and conditions, cars must be gone before tram services end from Sunday to Thursday. Overnight parking is allowed on Friday and Saturday nights only, and the car must be collected by noon the next day. You cannot leave it for the whole weekend. TfGM says the car parks are monitored and parking charge notices are issued for breaches.

Blue badge

A Blue Badge lets you park in a marked disabled space free and with no time limit. Park in an ordinary bay and you still have to buy a ticket, which the council states explicitly on its disabled parking spaces page.

The largest concentrations of disabled bays in the town centre are the Market car park (25), Parsons Lane behind the old Wilkinsons (16), Clerke Street and Rochdale Road on street (10), Trinity Street (8) and Castle Leisure Centre (7).

The council has stopped providing advisory on-street disabled bays outside people’s homes. It says the decision is down to resources, that it is not obliged to run the service, and that it will review the decision annually. It is not accepting applications until further notice.

Blue Badges themselves are still issued, through the council’s Blue Badge scheme.

Permits

New resident parking schemes are suspended. The council is not accepting applications for new schemes until further notice, though existing schemes carry on as before. Those schemes run in streets near town centres, hospitals and Metrolink stops.

If you already live in a scheme zone you can apply for a resident permit, visitor permits or a business permit, with proof you own the vehicle and proof you live there. Change your car and the old permit has to be returned to Parking Services at the Town Hall before a new one is issued, or charges may apply.

Temporary permits cost £3.50 each, up to ten for a single event such as a party or a funeral. Apply at least 48 hours ahead, or the application will not be processed, and collect from Bury Town Hall reception.

Fines

Enforcement is contracted to NSL Services Ltd. A Penalty Charge Notice is £50 or £70, halved to £25 or £35 if you pay within 14 days.

The useful detail is the appeal clock. Appeal within 14 days and, if the appeal fails, you get a further 14 days at the discounted rate. But paying while an appeal is being considered closes the case and ends the appeal, so do not do both.

Also on The Bury Post

• Roadworks and travel in Bury
• Bury bin collection days
• Bury council tax bands
• Bury tram times to Manchester