COSTS for burials, disposing of bulky waste and evening parking in Basingstoke and Deane looks set to rise.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s (BDBC) budget framework, which will be put before full council on February 22 2018, proposes most fees and charges, which make up a percentage of the council’s income, will go up by 3.5 per cent.

BDBC believes that even though this is an increase it will maintain a competitiveness and value for money for the services which residents use.

The rise will see an increase in income of £231,500 from fees and charges across all services for the borough council, which will be reinvested into other areas.

Discussing the decision to propose the increase, cabinet member for finance, service delivery and improvement, Councillor Robert Tate told The Gazette: “As a council we do not rely on the fees and charges for a key source of income, but we need to strike that balance of what services our residents wish to use, and which can be considered a premium service.

“On the grand scheme of things our charges are still considerably lower than other neighbouring authorities and one of the key things for us in making sure we keep council tax low.

“There is an element of, as long as we aren’t increasing the price of parking astronomically or something that affects residents on a day to day basis, they don’t seem to mind where we are getting a little bit more income from.”

However, leader of the Basingstoke Liberal Democrats group Councillor Gavin James said that the blanket rise is the council making up for money spent elsewhere.

Cllr James said: “The council has just gone with a general rise to recuperate money they have given out, like £3 million for a new hotel in Basing View.

“And who are the ones that have to pay for this attempt to bring in funds? Our residents.”

In most of the areas, the proposed increases are in line with the average increase target of 3.5 per cent with some exceptions.

One increase of 101.2 per cent is evening parking charges in many of the town centres car parks.

This means people leaving their cars in Brinkletts, Castons yard, Churchill Way, Churchill Way East, Sarum Hill and Southern Road car parks from 7pm-8am will now pay £2. However, one hour free parking at these car parks will remain in place.

Cllr Tate added: “If you see the number of 101.2 per cent it seems like a lot, but its actual quite a small amount. And with our car parks we always reinvest in different ways in terms of maintenance and making the facilities easier to use. We wanted to keep the hour’s free parking because we want to encourage people to come into the town centre.”

Other services on the rise include the cost of new graves going up by 13.6 per cent to £1,590 and the price of a four-week shuttle bus pass by 25 per cent to £35.