WILTSHIRE Council has revealed plans to RAISE car parking in Salisbury to £9 a day – despite widespread concerns it would be the final nail in the coffin for hard-hit traders.

The proposal to raise charges by more than 20 per cent is a slap in the face for struggling shops, already seeing vastly reduced footfall after the charge was nearly doubled to £7.40 four years ago, leading to an exodus of independent shops.

At the same time the authority has proposed that all-day parking in Trowbridge should FALL – to just £5.40 a day.

A slight fall in the price of parking for under five hours is also proposed, with Culver Street charging £1 per hour and other car parks reducing charges slightly.

Councillor John Walsh says the short stay reductions, plus a 10p reduction in an hour’s on-street parking might not be enough to alleviate the fears of traders.

He said: “Unfortunately no attempt has been made to harmonise charges with other large towns in the county who pay considerably less. We need a much bigger reduction in short stay charges if we are not to lose our remaining shops. It is time that the council realised that the city’s residents are fed up with paying for a park and ride which they don’t access for obvious reasons.”

Salisbury MP John Glen said: “The solution for car parking is to be released from the loss-making park and ride. We have to speak with a common voice and get Wiltshire Council to take seriously the fact that we don’t want an unprofitable park and ride.”

The council has written to the Department of Communities and Local Government to ask it to waive the £847,000 Wiltshire pays each year in non-domestic rates, intending to use the money to reduce parking charges across the county.

But Mr Glen – who works in the department as a parliamentary private secretary – says the council already gets back half of the money and this has not been used to reduce parking fees.

The public are now being asked for their views on parking options by visiting http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal. 

The consultation includes a parking review, a city profile, and a parking summary and people are asked to complete a survey to help the council shape its new strategy. The consultation is open until January 16.  

But Tom Corbin, city councillor and parliamentary candidate for Labour, says the questions are slanted to get the response the council is looking for.

He said: “A shrinking snail shows more boldness than this parking consultation.

“The survey questions are heavily loaded and it is incredibly insulting to the people of Salisbury who have campaigned very hard on this issue.”