YORK'S controversial new parking charges and restrictions cost £158,800 to introduce, it was revealed today.

The bill for new Pay & Display meters alone came to £132,900, with additional costs arising for matters such as painting new yellow lines and introducing traffic regulation orders, said Labour councillor Tracey Simpson-Laing.

She said an additional £9,400 was spent advertising and publicising the new evening parking permits scheme. And with only 69 permits sold, the cost per permit therefore came to £136.

Coun Simpson-Laing, who is shadow member for planning and transport, was given the figures in response to questions posed at a recent council meeting.

She said the costs had been funded from the Local Transport Plan, using money given by the Government to York to help it tackle transport issues.

"I think this has been a real waste," she said. "There are so many positive, alternative transport schemes this money could have been spent on - schemes that might actually make a difference to reducing congestion and improving air quality.

"We know the Lib Dems parking policies have been costing businesses and the local community dearly - now we find they have also been spending large amounts of the council's budget on imposing these unpopular charges."

But Coun Ann Reid, the Liberal Democrat executive member for planning and transport, strongly denied there had been any waste of public money.

She said the overall principle of managing parking was in line with Government advice and Local Transport Plan objectives, and she thought parking meters helped reduce congestion by encouraging public transport use.

The revenue collected by the new meters was expected to exceed the £132,000 cost of installing them and, powered by solar panels, they would have very low running costs.

She said the take-up of evening permits had been a "little disappointing", but said she felt that some people might have been holding off buying one in the hope that evening charges might still be scrapped.

She also believed that, despite the efforts made to advertise the permits, many motorists were still unaware of their existence.

Updated: 13:10 Monday, August 16, 2004