CORNWALL Coun-cillor Andrew Long has joined forces with the recently formed traders' association in Callington to call for a rethink on the new car parking charges.

Cllr Long, who represents Callington, has given his support to a petition by the Callington Traders Association against the charges which have seen a 100% increase in the first hour in the town's two pay and display car parks.

The new fees came into effect in April after Cornwall Council said it wanted to standardise parking charges across the county. But there was outrage in South East Cornwall where charges had traditionally been lower because town centres in that area were struggling.

Mr Long said: 'When this decision was being debated, I warned that the rush to make money from this community would backfire.

'We now can see the evidence with an almost empty car park and a big drop in income which was exactly what we warned would happen with these punitive parking charges.'

Mr Long urged the council to think again urgently.

He said: 'This is having a double negative effect as not only is it not getting the income that the council needs, it is discouraging people from using our town centre which is putting the livelihoods of many traders and hundreds of workers under threat,' he said.

He added that Cornwall Council last week produced the income for Callington's car parks, after he had pressurised officers for figures for three months.

'For the larger New Road South Car Park, the income for 2010/11 showed a 15% reduction on the previous year, despite the increase in charges for the first hour from 10p to 20p,' he said.

'So far, for the first two months of this financial year, despite a doubling of the first hour charges to 40p, income continued to drop – which is set against a target increase in income set for the car park of over 70% which was earmarked by the council.'

Gail Buttery, one of the leaders of the Callington Traders Association said: 'In these difficult economic times, when local traders are facing many difficulties, an increase in parking charges only worsens the situation.

'We must ask the question – Are the car parks in working Cornish towns seen as services, provided to help the local economy, or as cash cows to prop up Cornwall council's spending?' she said.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council said: 'Parking charges are reviewed on an annual basis and we are currently in the process of meeting with community networks in order to establish a framework for the charges in 2012/13.'