THE chairman of Tavistock’s chamber of commerce has said the organisation would stand against any attempts to raise car parking charges in the town.

At their recent meeting, Tavistock and District Chamber of Commerce (TDCC) discussed the possibility of West Devon Borough Council increasing car parking charges, with fears that the council will consider raising the £2 all day charge in its Tavistock car parks.

The £2 parking charge was initially introduced in May 2015 during a pilot scheme designed to increase footfall in the town and take pressure off visitors who may otherwise leave the town centre quickly due to a lack of parking time.

The pilot scheme was a success and the tariff was introduced permanently in 2016.

TDCC chairman Mike Harper said: ‘If they are going to put it up, they can only justify it if the car parks are losing money. That just isn’t the case.

‘We would stand against any rise in charges. Our car parks are now being used properly, not just by staff but by people coming into the town. There’s rotation throughout the day — people are coming in, putting in their £2 for unlimited parking, then leaving later and being replaced by someone else doing the same thing. It would be a definite mistake to raise it at all.

‘The principle is that an increase could raise money to help the deficit. I think they will end up taking less money if there is a hike. At the moment, car parks are full, people are in town spending money and it’s working. There is no need to change it.’

The issue was raised at TDCC following the collapse of the One Council merger with South Hams District Council. West Devon councillors recently voted against forming a single council with South Hams to cover both districts; the proposal had come forward as a means of ensuring that both areas would be better equipped to handle mounting financial pressures.

Despite numerous cost-cutting measures, the councils are still facing a combined budget gap of £1.9-million each year after 2020, due to further government cuts.

Since the rejection of the proposal, council leader Philip Sanders has told the Times that the council would be doing ‘an in-depth examination of the whole of our expenditure and find ways to generate additional income’.

At Tuesday’s full borough council meeting, councillors discussed a new parking strategy document looking at how the borough will run and maintain its car parks from now until 2021. While it does not mention any specific changes to parking charges, the document states that any changes to parking charges, ‘whether an increase or decrease, should be considered in light of the impact of the entire borough. Although there may be a presumption against a general increase in charges, they should be reviewed annually and an increase may be considered in the light of the rate of inflation, maintenance costs, etc.’ Any final decision on whether to endorse the document was deferred to a future meeting.

A spokesperson for West Devon Borough Council confirmed the council will consider parking charges as part of its overall parking strategy but that an increase to parking charges was not on the agenda for this week’s meeting.