Stockholm City Council Greenlights Slussen Expansion Budget and Votes to Freeze Parking Fees Through 2027

Stockholm's city council ended its final session before the summer recess on Thursday with a split vote to release an additional 2.3 billion kronor for the Slussen redevelopment project, whose costs have ballooned well beyond the original 8.7 billion kronor estimate approved in 2018. The funding decision unlocks construction work on the eastern quay section that has sat idle since March, and council officials say completion of the pedestrian and cycling bridge connecting Södermalm to Gamla Stan is now targeted for late 2028.

The timing matters because Slussen's half-finished state has become a daily irritant for commuters and a political liability for the ruling Moderate-led coalition ahead of the 2026 autumn municipal elections. Detours around the construction zone have added up to 12 minutes each way for bus routes 2 and 55, according to Storstockholms Lokaltrafik estimates submitted to the council last month. Businesses along Götgatan have reported foot-traffic drops of roughly 20 percent compared to pre-construction baselines, based on figures compiled by the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce in May.

Parking Freeze and a School Merger Pulled From the Agenda

The council also voted 51 to 34 to hold residential parking permit fees at their current rate of 850 kronor per month through the end of 2027, rejecting a proposal by the Sweden Democrats and parts of the Liberal bloc to raise the fee to 1,100 kronor. Supporters of the freeze argued that households in outer districts like Hässelby and Skarpnäck — areas with limited metro access — depend on cars in ways that inner-city councillors tend to underestimate. Critics countered that cheap permits undercut the city's own climate action plan, which targets a 40 percent reduction in private car journeys within the municipality by 2030.

A separate and more contentious item — the proposed merger of Katarina Norra skola and Sofia skola, two primary schools in Södermalm separated by roughly 600 metres — was pulled from Thursday's agenda after the city's Education Administration said it needed more time to consult with parent councils. The merger was first floated in April as a cost-saving measure projected to save around 9 million kronor annually. Parent groups at both schools submitted a combined 1,400-signature petition opposing the plan, citing concerns about class sizes exceeding 30 pupils and loss of each school's distinct pedagogical profile. The administration says a revised proposal will go back to the Education Committee in September.

Housing Density Targets Stir Södermalm Debate

The sharpest exchanges of the session centred on revised housing density guidelines for Södermalm, where the city's Planning Department wants to allow building heights of up to eight storeys on select plots along Ringvägen and Hornsgatan. The current cap in most of those blocks is five storeys. Proponents say Stockholm needs to add at least 15,000 new dwellings annually just to keep pace with population growth — the city's own projection puts the population at 1.1 million by 2030, up from around 990,000 today. Opponents, including several councillors from the Green Party, argued that the guidelines as written give developers too much discretion and could compromise protected sight-lines toward Skinnarviksberget.

The density guidelines were referred back to the Planning Department for a supplementary heritage impact assessment, delaying any formal decision until at least October. That pushback frustrated housing advocates who have watched the average asking price for a Södermalm two-bedroom apartment climb past 6.8 million kronor this spring, according to Mäklarstatistik data for May 2026.

The council does not convene again until 10 September. Residents wanting to submit views on either the Slussen spending decision or the Södermalm density guidelines can do so through the city's Tyck till portal on stockholm.se until 31 August. The Sofia-Katarina school merger consultation will open a separate public comment window once the Education Administration publishes its revised proposal, which it has committed to doing before the summer break ends.