INCREASES in parking charges in Selby should be put on hold to encourage more visitors to the town, a leading business figure has claimed.

Selby District Council’s forward plan, which was published yesterday with details of each key decision for the council until January, showed it will formally approve the revised pay-and-display car parking fees at a meeting of the executive next month.

The proposals were first put before the council in July before being put out to public consultation, but David Fieldsend, of the Selby Chamber of Trade and Commerce, said businesses around the town felt the rises could encourage shoppers to go elsewhere.

Mr Fieldsend said: “It will negatively affect the town, and send people elsewhere. It is not a massive increase, in pennies terms, but any increase can drive people away from the town centre. We are trying to encourage people into the town so we need to be reducing parking fees, or putting them on hold for 12 months.”

The increase covers long and short-stay pay-and-display facilities and will be the first in three years, and could see the council receive income of an extra £60,000 each year.

The changes will see parking in Portholme Road and Back Micklegate car parks rise from £4.50 to £5.40 and the price of a 12-month permit increase by £156.

Drivers parking for three hours or more will have to pay £3 for their stay, a rise of 50p, with short-stay parking for up to an hour at sites including Selby Park, Abbey Leisure Centre, South Parade and Market Cross rising by 10p, and stays of more than three hours costing 20p more.

Richard Schofield, Selby Chamber’s town centre spokesman, said: “With so many empty shops down the high street, and more closing all the time, we need to encourage people and retailers into the town centre, not keep them away.

“They say they need the money, but it’s a false economy if there’s no-one parking. I would like to see something like one day of the weekend free to encourage visitors.”

Mr Fieldsend said: “There are all these things about people running down the town, and we need to get people to come back and prove it is a decent place to be. We need to think of anything that would encourage people to turn up.”