A day's parking in some council car parks in Powys could rise by a quarter to make up for the cost of introducing hourly tickets, figures show.

The council revealed yesterday that a review of car parking in the county had been completed, with a five-point plan coming on the back of it leading to an angry backlash from some councillors.

Analysis of the review has now shown that reintroducing hourly parking in long-stay car parks in towns that don't currently have short-stay sites – Builth Wells, Crickhowell, Llanidloes, Machynlleth, Presteigne and Ystradgynlais – would cost the council £54,500.

To cover this cost, prices for parking between two and four hours, and for a full day, could rise from £3.25 to £3.80 and from £4 to £5 respectively.

These proposals have been put forward by highways, transport and recycling officers, and are an alternative to plans from a cross party working group that would see one-hour parking tickets return to all council car parks, at a total cost of £138,300.

A further recommendation of curtailing free car parking for events to the cabinet members' discretion is estimated to make £21,000.

Officers want to consider options to introduce charging on car parks that are currently free.

They believe this would bring in an extra £313,000 a year and the report explains there would be a one off capital budget cost of £48,000 for an extra 15 ticket machines.

They also want to amend parking permits to a “single” car park but keep the charge as it is but with a higher cost for permits that cover multiple car parks.

The report explains that if the officer recommendations are accepted, it will create in total an extra £402,200 for the department, helping deal with a £127,000 overspend for the year.

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Director of corporate services and s151 officer Jane Thomas has looked at both sets of recommendations.

Ms Thomas said: “The recommendations of the working group do not maintain a balanced budget, nor do they address the shortfall in income against the set budget, if approved these will create an additional financial burden for the council.

(Image: NQ)

“The proposals set out in the officer recommendations collectively deliver a position that generates additional income for the council which addresses the current shortfall in income against the approved budget, maintaining a balanced budget and making a contribution to reduce the overall budget gap in our financial plans.”

The report explains that the price increases introduced last year saw the council's income from car parks rise to £1.879 million last year, up 16.3 per cent on 2022/2023.

This is despite a drop in car park ticket sales from 815,153 to 741,404.

The report said: “We cannot say with any surety if the reduction was due to price changes or other external factors such as weather conditions.”

Comments from the scrutiny committee will be added to the report before it goes to Cabinet for a decision.