Traders are calling for motorists to be hammered with a massive £30 charge in a bid to put them off using Saltaire's public car parks all day.

Bradford Council plans to end free waiting in its Caroline Street and Exhibition Road car parks by making them pay and display facilities as part of a drive to release spaces for shoppers and tourists.

With £3 charged for anything over five hours the car parks will be the district's most expensive for long-stays but they will be the cheapest for short-stays with a charge of just 20p an hour for up to five hours.

Local traders have backed the move to pay and display, which the Council hopes to implement in March. But they say a £3 charge is nowhere near enough to stop all-day parking by commuters - who travel into Leeds or Bradford by train - and some people who work in the village.

Clive Woods, chairman of Saltaire Village Society and proprietor of Falcon Books in Victoria Road, said: "The object is to stop all-day parking and free the spaces up for shoppers and tourists but we don't think the fee of £3 all day will be prohibitive.

"All-day parking in Leeds costs between £4 and £11 so it will still be cheaper to park and ride if the cost to park in Saltaire is only £3.

"We would suggest a £30 charge for long-stays which should solve the problem and deter anyone from staying all day.

"The other alternative would be to limit waiting to perhaps five hours and have no all-day parking at all."

Malcolm Gray, chairman of Saltaire Traders' Association, said: "A £3 charge won't be sufficient to get people who leave their cars in Saltaire and travel into Leeds by train or work in the village to change their habits.

"All it will do is give the Council £3 revenue while we will still have the same problem. The charge should be substantially higher. The objective is to stop people parking there all day and I know people wouldn't pay £30."

Leeds City Council charges an average of £4 for all-day parking, £4.40 at the most, and NCP car parks charges up to £11.

Councillor Phil Thornton (Lab, Shipley East), chairman of the highways committee, said: "We will monitor the situation and should we find the car parks are being abused a report will be submitted to the highways sub-committee to review the situation."

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