Car parking charges poised to increase in Lichfield city centre

Lichfield District Council, which manages 18 car parks including more than 2,100 spaces, has declared the costs of maintaining the facilities have risen despite prices staying the same in the last eight years.

The authority stated it had invested £6million in managing and developing car parks in recent years and stated the proposed increases would help them sustain spending in the future.

The touted rises would see fees at short car parks increase by 10p for one hour, 10p for two hours, 20p for three hours, 20p for four hours and £1 all day.

In long stay facilities charges are set to go up by 10p for four hours, 20p for six hours and 30p to stay all day.

No changes are proposed for the £1 rate to park all day on a Sunday.

The rises only apply to the city centre and not wider parts of the district such as Burntwood.

The council has issued a questionnaire and requested motorists provide feedback on the possible changes as well as what people think of the car parks generally.

Tourism and communications chief, Councillor Helen Fisher, said: "Car parks are vital to the economic wellbeing of Lichfield city centre, and we need to know how local people feel about them and our proposals.

"We are considering a number of changes, including raising the cost of using our car parks. We have not increased our charges in city car parks since 2008 and in that time we have absorbed the 2.5 per cent increase in VAT, yet the costs of managing and building new car parks, such as The Friary, have continued to increase."

She added: "So that we can continue to provide safe, clean and secure car parks across the city, and to make sure car parks do not become a burden on council tax payers across the district, we are considering increasing our current car parking charges. The charges have been compared to surrounding authorities and we are confident that our parking offer will remain competitive.

"We now need residents and visitors to give us their views on our proposals by filling in our quick car park questionnaire."

The survey is available to complete at the district council's website.