A PRICE increase in parking charges by Rochford District Council has raised nearly £100,000 in six months.

The controversial rise saw the council increase charges from 80p to £1and hour.

It was feared the rise could hit traders, but figures from the council’s review committee even show an increase in the number of people paying to park in the district.

Since the increased charges started in August, 2014, the council has made £579,633, that is £96,795 more then the same sixmonth period in 2013/14.

Simon Smith, district councillor for finance, welcomed the figures as it was also revealed the number of tickets bought by the public had gone up to 11,625, 2.2 per cent higher then the same six month period in the previous year.

Mr Smith said: “We are not trying to use parking as a cash cow.

“It is absolutely right that the figures are there for the public to see and hopefully they are seeing that they are getting value for money from council services.

“Our car parks seem to be full most of the time and people are staying longer and the number of fines issued has gone down.

“Ticket sales have increased as well, meaning our congratulations should go out to the traders in our district who are offering goods and services that people want.”

The proposal to increase parking charges first arose as part of the council’s 2014/15 budget and included a plan to introduce fees on Saturday afternoons.

The vote was passed but following a councillor revolt a second vote was taken and free Saturday afternoon parking remained.

Carl Watson, chairman of the Rayleigh chamber of trade, said the new figures show the council were right to maintain free Saturday afternoon parking.

He said: “It is nice to see the town centres in the district have become viable. It would be interesting to see though whether the increase in sales is just from Rayleigh, or if Rochford and Hockley are improving as well.

“We were not in favour of increasing the prices but we could see the reasoning behind it.

“If they are earning more than forecast then maybe they could look at making Saturday parking free all day.”

The increase in fees was proposed to bring in an estimated £180,000 in revenue, meaning the council is on target to match or better their prediction by August 2015.

Rochford's council tax put up by £3.11

RESIDENTS in the Rochford district will face an average of a 0.2 per cent increase in the council tax for the 2015/16 year.

The district council agreed to freeze its portion of the council tax when it passed its budget two weeks ago, but increases from the police and crime commissioner, as well as parish and town councils, have resulted in the marginal increase.

The police and crime commissioner has put their share of the tax up by 1.99 per cent, while the contribution to local councils is up to 0.58 per cent.

However the largest of the parishes, Rayleigh Town Council, has not increased their precept and their average cost for a Band D property has in fact fallen by two per cent.

The average bill for a Band D property in the district will be £1,549.31, up just £3.11 from the current year.

Terry Cutmore, Conservative leader of the council, said: “We all appreciate families are facing spiralling household bills, so I am pleased we have frozen our portion of the council tax to help ease matters in this regard.

“We will be striving to maintain the high quality services that residents have come to expect, while finding innovative ways to make your money stretch as far as it possibly can.”