Parking charges to rise by a third

The price of on-street parking in part of Sandwell is to increase by a third, the Express & Star can reveal today.

From April it will cost 40p per hour to park in Oldbury compared with the current charge of 30p. It will cost 80p rather than 60p to park in West Bromwich.

The move has been criticised by Ray Nock, leader of Sandwell Council's opposition Conservative group, who believes it could drive shoppers out of the town but the council today said the increase followed a request from traders.

"This is a bad move," said Councillor Nock. "The High Street and the small trader have already suffered enough. They need all the help they can get, not another incentive to keep people away.

"It will drive people to the big multi-shop centres."

Roads affected in Oldbury will be Canal Street and Freeth Street.

In West Bromwich, Bratt Street, Bull Street, Church Street, Edward Street, High Street, Lodge Road, Lombard Street, Sandwell Road, Queen Street, Victoria Street and Walsall Street will be affected.

Sandwell's neighbourhoods councillor Derek Rowley pointed out it was the first price rise of on-street parking since 2009.

"Traders have asked us to introduce this price rise because our prices are so low," he said.

"At the moment we have a situation where people are happy to put money in a meter and leave their cars there all day because it is so cheap.

"It should be remembered that the charges are still lower than in other neighbouring authorities.

"But there is a need to raise extra income in these difficult financial times, coupled with the fact that we have had complaints from shopkeepers that they want to see a greater movement of traffic to assist with trade.

"There are plenty of long-stay car parks in Sandwell and the fees for those are unaffected," he added.