FEES in town centre car parks in Tavistock and Okehampton look set to rise to £1 per hour next year, if proposals being considered by West Devon councillors get the thumbs up next week. New car parking charges for the next two years are expected to be approved for West Devon by councillors on Tuesday, following consultation with business organisations in the borough. The borough adopted a comprehensive car parking strategy for West Devon earlier this year following extensive talks with traders. Car parking charges in West Devon have remained unchanged since June 2006. The strategy covers all aspects of the car parking service, including a 10-year forward planned maintenance programme, the relationship of the council?s off-street parking areas to on-street parking, and the development of car parking in the main towns. The strategy also governs when car parking charges are reviewed and councillors agreed they should be reassessed every two years. The proposals coming before the borough?s environment and community committee next week will set out the new tariffs to be adopted from April 2008. The council?s car parking strategy group met earlier last month to discuss a number of tariff options. The strategy provides for the fee increases to be applied to the total income from car parks and gives maximum flexibility as to how the individual charges are applied. The group has proposed that charges be increased by 7.2% in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI) and will extend to April 2010. Cllr Chris Jenkins, chairman of the environment committee, said: ?During the review we felt it important to consider the views of the traders and businesses in our towns and villages. ?Instead of applying across the board increases of 7.2%, we have actually reduced tariffs for the key short and medium term slots when compared with inflation. ?In real terms most of the increases are below inflation with reductions ranging from 7.2% to a whopping 39% for a new 1 hour stay in Chagford. ?Tavistock maintains its 50p thirty minute tariff, a generous 14% reduction against RPI over the next 2 years. The crucial time slot of 3 hours will also see a reduction of 9% against RPI over the next 2 years.? Cllr Jenkins said costs of maintaining and managing the car parks had all increased above the RPI over the last 18 months and these costs had be met by higher car parking income. ?Despite this, the strategy group has produced a range of tariffs that not only generate this additional income but also limit any negative impact the changes might have on visitors and shoppers to our towns and villages.? The committee will consider the recommendations when they meet on next Tuesday.
