Castle Yard and Festival Hall are free on Sundays, Swan Street is not. The 2026 tariffs for all four council car parks, permit prices and the station rates.
Two of Petersfield’s four council car parks are free on a Sunday and two are not, and nothing about their locations tells you which. Castle Yard and Festival Hall cost nothing between 10am and 4pm on a Sunday. Swan Street, reached from the same street as Castle Yard, charges the full weekday rate.
Every price below comes from East Hampshire District Council’s own off-street parking places (variation) order 2026, which took effect on 1 April 2026, or from the operator. Checked on 26 August 2026.
The quick answer
- Four council car parks, 844 spaces, all pay and display.
- Charges apply Monday to Saturday, 8am to 6pm. Outside those hours, free.
- Sunday: Castle Yard and Festival Hall are free. Swan Street, Central and The Causeway charge between 10am and 4pm.
- Festival Hall is much the cheapest all day: £5.80 for nine hours against £9.00 at Swan Street and Castle Yard.
- Central and The Causeway have a three-hour maximum, no return within an hour.
- Blue badge holders park free, in council car parks and at the station.
- There is no free council car park in Petersfield. The nearest are in Liss and Liphook.
The four council car parks
Space counts are from the council’s car parks and bays list for August 2026.
| Car park | Access from | Spaces | Disabled bays | Stay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central | Winton Road | 418 | 18 | Short, 3 hours max |
| Festival Hall | Heath Road | 212 | 3 | Long |
| Swan Street | Swan Street | 157 | 6 | Long |
| Castle Yard | Swan Street | 57 | 2 | Long |
None of the four has toilets. Central has the only coach bays, two of them, and is the only one where permits are not sold. The Causeway car park appears in the charging order but not in the council’s spaces list.
Central and Swan Street were both due for resurfacing this autumn. Dates are in our report on the car park repairs.
Tariffs from 1 April 2026, Monday to Saturday
Charging hours are 8am to 6pm.
| Duration | Castle Yard | Swan Street | Festival Hall | Central | The Causeway |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 hour | £1.60 | £1.60 | £1.60 | - | - |
| 2 hours | £2.10 | £2.10 | £2.10 | £2.10 | £2.10 |
| 3 hours | £2.90 | £2.90 | £2.90 | £2.90 | £2.90 |
| 4 hours | £4.90 | £4.90 | £3.80 | - | - |
| 5 hours | £5.70 | £5.70 | £4.70 | - | - |
| 9 hours | £9.00 | £9.00 | £5.80 | - | - |
| All day | £10.20 | £10.20 | £9.00 | - | - |
The first three hours cost exactly the same everywhere. After that Festival Hall pulls away: nine hours there is £3.20 cheaper than the same stay at Swan Street or Castle Yard, and a full day is £1.20 cheaper. If you are in town for the working day, Heath Road is the one to aim for.
Every tariff rose on 1 April 2026. An hour went from £1.50 to £1.60, and a full day at Swan Street from £9.70 to £10.20.
Sunday, and the trap
Sunday charges run 10am to 4pm, and they are not applied consistently.
| Car park | Sunday |
|---|---|
| Castle Yard | Free |
| Festival Hall | Free |
| Swan Street | Full weekday tariff, £1.60 an hour to £10.20 all day |
| Central | £2.10 for two hours, £2.90 for three |
| The Causeway | £2.10 for two hours, £2.90 for three |
Castle Yard and Swan Street are both reached from Swan Street. One is free on a Sunday and the other is not, and the ticket machines are the only thing that will tell you.
When parking is free
- Before 8am and after 6pm, Monday to Saturday, in all five.
- All day Sunday at Castle Yard and Festival Hall, and before 10am or after 4pm on a Sunday anywhere.
- Bank holidays. The council’s published off-street parking places order applies the charging hours “except bank holidays”. The council asks drivers to check the notice board at the car park, so check before you rely on it.
- Blue badge holders, at any time.
- Motorcycles, in a designated motorcycle bay. Central and Festival Hall have those; Castle Yard does not.
There is no free council car park anywhere in Petersfield. Elsewhere in the district the council runs free car parks at Hillbrow, Station Road and the village centre in Liss, at Midhurst Road, Station Road and Haslemere Road in Liphook, at Guadaloupe in Bordon, Sutton Fields in Whitehill, Winchester Road in Four Marks, Blendworth Lane in Horndean, and three in Grayshott.
One ticket that transfers, and several that do not
Buried in the council’s parking order is a rule worth knowing. Parking tickets are not transferable between car parks, except between Central and The Causeway. Move from Central to The Causeway and your ticket still counts. Move from Swan Street to Castle Yard, both off the same street, and it does not.
The same order sets a three-hour maximum with no return within an hour at Central and The Causeway, so the town’s biggest car park cannot be used for a full day at any price. The council’s own visitor car park at Penns Place is limited to one hour.
Season tickets and permits
Permits are sold for three, six or twelve months, and are valid only in the car park they were bought for. In Petersfield that means Castle Yard, Swan Street or Festival Hall. Central is not included. Prices are from the council’s season ticket conditions 2026.
| Permit type | Castle Yard or Swan Street | Festival Hall |
|---|---|---|
| Standard, 12 months | £1,176.80 | £889.10 |
| Resident, 12 months | £1,059.60 | £800.20 |
| Low emissions to 120g/km, 12 months | £882.90 | £667.40 |
| Electric or hybrid, 12 months | £706.10 | £533.50 |
The spread is large. An electric car parked at Festival Hall costs £533.50 a year against £1,176.80 for a standard permit in the town centre, a difference of £643.30. Proof is required for both the residency and the low emissions rates, in the form of the vehicle registration document or the lease.
Permits cover one registration, are non-refundable, do not guarantee a space, and will not be issued to a vehicle with an outstanding penalty charge notice. Applications go to parking.office@easthants.gov.uk.
The council’s RingGo location codes are 39571 for Castle Yard, 39572 for Swan Street and 39573 for Festival Hall.
Blue badge and disabled bays
East Hampshire reserves its disabled parking spaces for official badge holders 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and charges badge holders nothing. There are 29 disabled bays across the four Petersfield car parks, 18 of them in Central.
The parking order also exempts a displayed badge from the maximum stay and the no-return rule, so the three-hour cap at Central does not apply to badge holders.
Station parking
Petersfield station car park is run by South Western Railway. It holds 154 spaces and has no CCTV. Prices are from the operator’s station page.
| Ticket | Price |
|---|---|
| Peak | £9.70 |
| Off-peak, from noon Monday to Friday | £4.90 |
| Per hour, from noon, RingGo only | £1.60 |
| Saturday, Sunday or bank holiday | £4.90 |
| Weekly | £38.70 |
| Monthly | £135.40 |
| Quarterly | £406.20 |
| Annual | £1,354.00 |
The RingGo code for the station is 77485. Blue badge holders park free, but must register with the operator first.
For a full weekday, the council’s Festival Hall car park at £9.00 undercuts the station’s £9.70 peak ticket. Over a year the gap is wider: a Festival Hall permit is £889.10 against £1,354.00 for the station’s annual ticket, and £533.50 if the car is electric.
Fines
A penalty charge notice can be challenged in writing within 14 days, through the council’s parking and traffic management pages. If every ticket machine in a car park is out of order and signed as such, the parking order exempts you from the charge, but not from the maximum stay.
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