Parking charges to rise

Bucks Free Press
By Paul Leat

MOTORISTS will have to fork out a lot extra for parking in High Wycombe from the start of the New Year.
Pay and display fees on street bays in the Special Parking Area will increase from 50p to £1 per half-an-hour in the most central roads, and from 40p to 50p in the outer roads from January 1.
Parking permits for people with no off-street parking outside their homes will see the price they pay rise from £25 to £40.
The price will then be hiked up again to £45 later in the year and then again to £52 in 2008.
But anyone with a second or third car will have to pay the full £52 now for their extra permits.
Buckinghamshire County Council said the price hikes were needed because the fees had not been changed for several years and the current charge does not reflect the price it costs to issue the permit.

The price rises were supposed to start in October, with permit holders expected to immediately pay the massive jump to £52.
But after a mass outcry from motorists, Councillor Val Letheren, county council cabinet member for transportation, called the decision back and toned it down to phase in the price rises. The start date was also moved back to January.
Cllr Letheren said the council was writing to every permit holder to tell them about the changes.
She added: "We have tried to soften it for people and bring the rises in by stages."
2:53pm Wednesday 6th December 2006