Council issues parking cost tables (From Salisbury Journal)

Council issues parking cost tables

1:54pm Thursday 28th July 2011 in Show Some Sense campaign By Annie Riddle

WILTSHIRE Council has issued tables which it claims show how much it will cost to cut Salisbury’s parking charges.

It says bringing back a one-hour £1 charging band will cost it at least £900,000 a year in lost revenue, and possibly up to £1.12million. The total depends on whether it charges £2.80 or £2.20 for a two-hour stay.

It also claims that to charge £1 for an hour and cut the all-day charge to £6 will cost £1.18million a year even if other charges remain unchanged.

Bill Browne, editor and publisher of the Journal, said: “Seven thousand of our readers voted for the reintroduction of a one-hour band. They did not specify what the charge should be. The level simply has to be reasonable and introduced without delay.”

City Centre Management’s latest proposals – which include lowering the cost of parking for two, three, four and five hours, with a £6 maximum - will cost £1.23million, according to the council.

Even if it charges £1.50 for an hour and £2.80 for two hours, the council says, it will still be £440,000 out of pocket.

Extending park and ride opening hours from 6am to 8pm in line with requests from the city council and business groups would cost another £132,000 a year, “with uncertain revenue generation”.

A report to Tuesday’s Cabinet warned: “Any shortfall in revenue would have to be achieved by reducing services elsewhere in the budget.”