Parking permit hike for Scarborough residents

North Yorkshire County Council made the decision to increase charges on Friday after saying the parking schemes across the county were losing money.

It could see the cost of a first residential permit in Scarborough and Whitby leap from £17 to £26.

A second and third permit would cost £41 and £66, up from £27 and £44 respectively.

Scratch cards for guests would also go up by 5p to 15p.

Permits for guest houses, businesses and tradespeople would also go up under the new scheme.

The county’s Business and Environmental Services Executive Members committee had two options when it met on Friday, increase the cost by 26% or 50% - it favoured the costlier option for residents and businesses.

The county claims the increase of 50% will actually help ease the concerns of residents over parking. Parking in Scarborough is enforced by Scarborough County Council on behalf of the county, which sets the pricing.

Assistant director of Highways and Transportation, Barrie Mason, wrote in the report that running the scheme was costing more money than it was generating.

He wrote: “Based on the figures that were predominantly supplied by the two enforcement bodies, namely Harrogate Borough Council and Scarborough Borough Council, then there is a shortfall of around £123,000 in the cost of administering the service against the revenue that is generated in residential areas.

“The current moratorium on investigating enquiries into residential parking zones has caused a backlog to build over time. This list now stands at 30 enquiries across the area offices.

“As far as a recommendation goes, the first of the two options of an increase of 26% would largely fill the shortfall in the funding gap between cost and income.

“This does not address the backlog of enquires, and any future requests, for new or revised schemes.

“The feedback from the National Highways and Transportation Network survey show an importance being attached by residents to parking issues in their communities then we ought to be looking at finding the additional resource to progress this workload.

“A reduction in the backlog can be accomplished by the second of the two options which is an increase of 50% with the additional 25% being earmarked specifically for the investigation of residents schemes, retrospectively and going forward.”

The report found the North Yorkshire, in particular, Scarborough, has some of the cheapest parking permits in the country.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council charges between £24 and £34, Durham charges £40 and Cambridgeshire charges up to £81 for its permits.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire County Council said: "“The Director of BES in consultation with Executive Members supported the recommendation to introduce Option 2 {50% increase] in principle.

""However, it was felt there was too great a range of charges across the county and officers were asked to review the charges under Option 2 with a focus on rationalising and standardising the charge level.

"The outcome of that work will be reported shortly.”