OKEHAMPTON Chamber of Trade is 'incensed' by a decision to raise car parking charges in the borough at a time when the town is struggling to win back shoppers.

It was agreed this week to put an extra 10p on one and two hour charges in West Devon Borough Council-owned car parks and to appoint a car park manager at the cost of £25,000 — but the authority's lack of consultation with traders in Okehampton and Tavistock has met strong criticism.

The rise in charges is to meet a shortfall in the council's budget but Okehampton chamber of trade chairman Ian Bailey said it was wrong to hit the shoppers and traders yet again.

'The chamber is incensed by this decision,' he said. 'The biggest complaint from people shopping in the town is always the car parking fees,' he said.

'It's okay for the borough council to say the charges are comparable with neighbouring areas but a lot of shoppers disagree.

'It has been a hard year encouraging people back to shop in the town after the roadworks. I think we all deserve a bit of respite.'

Okehampton has been plagued by traffic and parking problems which began with the construction of Waitrose on the site of the old shoppers' car park. The digging up of the main street, first by South West Water and later by Cable and Wireless, caused further congestion.

Mr Bailey said the borough council should be looking in other directions to recoup the shortfall instead of this 'easy way' of getting money.

'We thought we had a spirit of co-operation with the borough council but it appears not as we knew nothing of the proposed rise,' he added. 'As a chamber we will be writing a letter asking the authority to rethink its decision.'

At the council's strategic development committee this week members were told many hours had been spent by a working party deliberating car park charges and the fact was the one-hour charge had not risen since 1995.

Borough council treasurer Lesley Halton explained that the increase would help close the gap on a £30,560 shortfall in the authority's budget.

When questioned on the need for a car park manager when the council was looking to manage costs more effectively, commercial services manager Mark Hall said the issue of car parking was a big one which had never been resourced properly.

'Car parking is currently running on sticky tape and elastic bands — the only time given to it is the spare time of lots of different people,' he said.

'I was given authority to appoint a manager 12 months ago but I did not want to spend the money we had not got. We have needed someone for the last two or three years.'

Mr Hall said it was important to work with the chambers of trade and town councils to come up with the best parking arrangements in town centres.

'Parking is such an important area and links in with tourism,' he said. 'Such issues that need to be addressed are seasonal charging, late night shopping arrangements, free parking on certain days and the relationship between on-street and off-street parking,' he said.

Cllr David Stapleton said consultation should have taken place with Tavistock and Okehampton chambers of trade before the increases were proposed.

'It is obviously of vital interest to them — shoppers may be more inclined to go to Exeter if the car parking charges in West Devon are the same as the city,' he said.

He added there were other options for the management of car parks, including delegating the job to town and parish councils, which could save money.

Cllr Richard Eberlie said he agreed with increasing and rounding up the parking charges to 50p and £1 because it seemed the only way to balance the budget.

But he believed the chambers of trade should have been contacted by the council in the first instance rather than hearing about the issue through the press.