ALL-DAY parking in Basingstoke could cost visitors as much as £10, as Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has proposed an increase to fees in its budget outline.

In the budget framework, which will be put before full council on February 23, it is proposed the fees in the town’s long stay car parks could rise by up to 33 per cent.

This means shoppers, workers and commuters who use any of the Brinkletts, Castons, Churchill Way, Churchill Way East, Sarum Hill and Southern Road car parks will now pay £10 for all-day parking, where the price was previously £7.50.

The short stay car parks will also see a 25 per cent rise for parking for between two and three hours, going from £2.40 to £3.

The borough council prides itself on being a financially resilient council, however, with these increased fees and charges, along with the proposed £5 council tax increase and prospect of fortnightly bin collections, opposition councillors are not happy.

Leader of the Basingstoke Labour Group, Cllr Paul Harvey said the council should be encouraging people to come to the town centre, rather than increasing parking fees.

He said: “If we want to encourage people to come into the town and spend money this is not the way to do it.

“We are putting people off, we are putting commuters off and it will end up having an effect on the businesses around town.

“The whole reason they are increasing the fees and charges is because they need to plug the £9 million gap and save money wherever they can in the budget.”

Cllr Harvey added: “We have been a financially strong council because of the decisions made by our predecessors, now the Tories are squandering that and having to scrimp and scrounge at every opportunity.”

The leader of the Basingstoke Liberal Democrats, Cllr Gavin James, said the rise in prices – which comes just 12 months after the last round of hikes – will have a huge effect on commuters, who will have to pay out £50 a week before they have even got to work.

He said: “We have a poor bus service in the borough, which shows no signs of improving, so commuters have no choice but to park in the town centre.

“There is property near the train station which is boarded up, but we could have made that into dedicated commuter parking, instead of raising the prices elsewhere.”

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The borough council claims that the level of income they are seeing doesn’t match the cost of the services they provide; hence the increases they have proposed.

However, cabinet member for finance Cllr Robert Tate says cost still remain low in comparison to neighbouring councils.

Cllr Tate said: “With challenging financial times ahead, the cost of providing services is going up, but our income is going down. We have always endeavoured to keep the costs of the things that we do charge for as low as possible.

“Our fees and charges have historically been, and indeed will continue to be, lower than neighbouring towns and cities.

“We are proposing a small average increase of just 2.5 per cent to these charges. There are hundreds of individual fees and some specific ones are higher than this, but many are lower. Crucially though, they will continue to cost significantly less than in other areas of the country.”

As well as the possibility of the parking charges being increased, the cost of a single-depth grave in the borough could rise by 25 per cent, going from £1,119 to £1,400, and across the board for fees and charges there is a general 2.5 per cent increase, which will be put before full council.

Since 2009 more than £10 million has been taken out of budgets through efficiency savings, within an extended period of national public spending reductions and historically low interest rates and this has been achieved by the borough council through minimal impact on delivery of services.

The specific budget changes set out in the report are in line with the long-term strategy that looks to balance the 2017/18 and 2018/19 budgets by making use of the new homes bonus received in those years.

However, this is not a sustainable position for the borough council and the forward forecasts identify a £4.9 million deficit by 2020/21.

This has led to the proposed £5 council tax increase, something which Independent Forum councillor, Cllr Onnalee Cubitt believes is a misguided forecast.

Cllr Cubitt said: “The projected council tax increase is based on a false hypothesis that this new homes bonus policy (a grant paid by central government to local councils for increasing the number of homes) will justify the increase.

Cllr James added: “When people are filling out their council tax forms, they should invoice it to the failing Tories.”

However, Cllr Tate believes that because the borough council has been shrewd in its spending and saving, and by rarely increasing council tax, this has meant the council has invested in other areas.

He said: “Every year we review the council’s financial position with a view to provide the best possible value for our taxpayers, ensuring that we are spending money wisely.

“The Local Government Association considers Basingstoke and Deane to be one of the most financially resilient councils in the country and this only comes about through careful management of the budget.

“As a result we have actively kept council tax the lowest in Hampshire, while at the same time maintaining the fifth-highest spend per head of all district councils in England.

“In the real world, this translates into a huge range of positive, ambitious projects such as the new leisure park and designer outlet centre, a new lease of life for the Top of the Town and the ability to build sustainable, affordable homes for future generations across the borough.”

The budget proposal will be debated by councillors at the next full council meeting tomorrow.

What do you think of the proposed changes? Let us know by emailing us at newsdesk@basingstokegazette.co.uk.