Higher parking fees failing to fill coffers

Officials have blamed lower than expected income from new car parking charges in Shropshire for a £375,000 black hole in their finances.

Shropshire Council hiked car park charges in some towns in April and introduced them in others for the first time, despite widespread public outcry.

But now it has emerged Shirehall officials have "concerns" the new charges are not raising as much revenue as they had forecast.

A revenue monitoring report to the council's ruling cabinet this month said there are "initial concerns that income from car parking fees is down compared to the current year budget."

The shortfall left the council's car parks and bus stations budget for the current financial year £375,000 down in the first quarter.

But Councillor Simon Jones, Shropshire Council cabinet member for parking, said: "The action we took to avoid increasing on-street parking charges in Shrewsbury and Ludlow, along with the national trend of declining use of car parks, has impacted on the expected income from parking fees, although it is difficult to predict how the rest of the financial year will go against the set budget."

In north Shropshire, market towns which had enjoyed free off-street parking for many years were hit with the charges for the first time.

Charging came to Wem in April and Ellesmere in May, with Whitchurch expected to come under the new regime soon.

Councillor Chris Mellings, a member of Shropshire Council for Wem and a town councillor, asked Shirehall for details of how the new regime had worked in Wem in April, May and June.

In reply, the council said £5,869 net was raised from Wem car parks during the period.

This included £1,295 from permit sales.

But the costs of preparing the town for the charges reached £20,720.

This covered the cost of ticket machines and signs in all Wem's car parks.

Officials also revealed they had set "no specific income target" for the new charges across the county but hoped the council's overall car parks and bus stations budget would show a £50,000 surplus at the end of the first year.

Councillor Edward Towers, mayor of Wem, said he hoped to work with other civic leaders to review the effectiveness of the charges.

He added: "We will have to see if Shropshire Council will realise the error of its thinking or harden it and perhaps want to increase the charges."