Councillors and traders in Brighouse are fighting the new charges being introduced into all the town's car parks from next June.

The three car parks that currently charge - Bethel Street, Commercial Street and Parsonage Lane - will see a 10p rise from 20p to 30p per hour.

Car parks in Daisy Street, Mill Royd Street and Owler Ings Road, which enjoy free parking at the moment, are to see a charge of 20p per hour, up to a maximum of £1.

Councillor Colin Stout (Independent) said Brighouse councillors were 100 per cent against the idea. "Brighouse is already experiencing a massive upheaval with two big developments - Tescos and the Sugden's site," he said.

"The town has suffered quite a lot in recent years. There must be 11 shops with for sale or to-let signs on them in the centre. It's not healthy and this will not help.

"I will fight vehemently against the increases or expansion of charges."

Glyn Foster, who has a jewellers in Bradford Road and is a member of the Brighouse Business Club steering group, added: "It's another blow for Brighouse. Councillors said the scheme already introduced for car parking charges was a wonderful success - only for council coffers.

"This kind of idea can kill businesses off and I can't understand the logic behind it - if there is one. The way the council just sits back and says 'this is what we're going to do' without consulting anybody is disgusting," he said.

The charges - which would apply between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Saturday - were approved by Calderdale Coun-cil's regeneration and development scrutiny committee.

Brighouse's Labour councillor Emma Hions echoed councillor Stout's feelings. "We've got to encourage people to come in and shop in the town centre. These new charges may well harm that and I believe it will have an effect on trade," she said.

It is hoped that the increase will help balance the books, as the annual income from Brighouse does not cover expenditure. The budget is currently being subsidised by charges in Halifax, with the present deficit at around £105,000 per year.

Supermarket giants Tesco have received planning permission to build a store on the site of the Brighouse Sports Club ground in Clifton Road and a possible development at Sugden's Mill in Brighouse has outline planning approval.