ANOTHER new car parking charge scheme for Craven will result in residents bearing the brunt of an increase in prices.

Residents who buy unlimited parking permits will be charged almost double. The unlimited residents permits will now cost £50 a year instead of £26.

The need for yet another new parking regime came amongst choruses of "we told you so" from the Independent and Liberal Democrat benches of Craven District Council who argued against the reform in November 1999.

That reduction in parking prices to a uniform 50p an hour in most of Craven's car parks were forecast to cost the council £121,590 a year after a two month trial period.

A revised scheme voted through this week will set prices in Skipton at 50p an hour except for two hours which will be £1.20 and three hours £1.60. The charges come into effect in April.

Coun David Crawford said: "One of the biggest sources of income are two hour parkers, and all these charges are still less expensive than they used to be."

Non residents travelling to the town to work will also be stung with an extra £50 a year for a permit, taking the cost to £200.

Coun Beth Graham pointed out that this may aggravate the problems with on street parking, by discouraging commuters from using the car parks.

A cap on the daily car parking charges for seven hours and over has been set at a maximum of £3.50 in an attempt to reduce the on-street parking situation.

Coun Crawford also suggested introducing a disc system for short stay permit holders. They would show the time of entry and exit so that car park attendants could carry out their jobs more effectively.

Coun Philip Barrett said: "What a financial mess the Conservatives have made of the car parking income. There can be no excuses for this financial mis-management."

He claimed that the revised parking charges introduced in November would create a loss of income of approximately £3,000 a week until March 2000. He described the scheme as hairbrained and ill thought out.

Coun Stephen Place pointed out that when the scheme was introduced in November members were told that if it did not work they could be reverted back to the original tariffs.

But Coun Shelagh Marshall said: "It was purely a trial and I wonder how many members of the public would be pleased we had taken a chance?"

The monitoring of the trial period concluded that the main effect of the scheme in Skipton was the displacement of vehicles with residents' permits from Coach Street and Cavendish Street to the High Street car park.

The new scheme reverts back to restricted residents' permit holder access in the High Street car park and Whitefriars car park in Settle.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.