Parking fees rise 'will not impact town centre'

A planned increase in parking charges would not put people off visiting a town centre, council chiefs have claimed.

Prices in car parks in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, are set to rise under plans put forward by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council.

It would see most places cost an extra 10p to park for one or two hours, but opposition councillors said the increase would affect people on lower incomes.

Leaders of the Conservative-controlled authority said the charges would still be relatively low and the ongoing regeneration projects would attract more people to the town.

The proposed increase, due to come into effect in April, would mean the cost of parking at the town's Castle Car Park for up to an hour would rise from £1.20 to £1.30.

The charge for up to four hours would go up from £4.70 to £4.90. Similar increases would be seen at other car parks in and around the town centre.

During a recent meeting of the finance, assets and performance scrutiny committee, Labour councillor Mike Stubbs said people were facing "significant increases" fees across many council services.

"That is going to affect anyone on a low income who wants to come into the town centre," he added.

"They do have a choice – so do they stop shopping in Newcastle because they can't afford to park?"

The authority's director for finance, Craig Turner, said the fees had to cover the cost of providing a service and parking charges were previously frozen for "an awfully long time".

He said the town centre offer would be "vastly improving" over the next two years thanks to regeneration projects including at Astley Place, Midway car park and Ryecroft.

Stephen Sweeney, cabinet member for finance, town centres and growth, said the work would mean there would be "a lot more people in the town" and the parking charge increase would not affect that.

"It will mean more businesses opening and people spending money in the town," he added.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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