Dorset Council unable to assess impact of new parking fees

The petition in Weymouth asked Dorset Council to reverse the changes with "immediate effect"

A council has claimed it has been unable to assess the impact of a controversial hike in parking fees despite previously pledging otherwise.

Dorset Council increased charges in resort towns such as Weymouth in May.

Thousands of people feared the move would damage the local economy.

The council pledged to review the effect of the fees but a new report revealed the authority was unable to produce any evidence to show whether the charges had a negative impact.

The report, which has ben published ahead of next month's cabinet meeting, says it is difficult to tell if there has been a negative effect on the local economy.

However, it states that income from parking fees has gone up, which it claims it is positive for the council.

The new parking fees cover Weymouth, Charmouth, Lyme Regis, West Bay, Portland and West Bexington, with charges of up to £15 for ten hours in the summer and £9 in winter.

Earlier this year more than 7,000 signed a petition in Weymouth, claiming the higher fees were damaging the town's economy and even putting some residents off attending town centre medical appointments.

Residents demanded a reduction in fees.

Weymouth was one of the several seaside towns affected by the new charges

At the time the council said it would review the effect of the increased fees in September. But its decision was met with an outcry as opponents said that was too late.

In the latest report, the council's corporate director Matthew Piles says many car parks have seen new meters introduced and transaction data could not be extracted from the old parking machines, meaning the car park usage data is limited to when the new machines were installed.

"We are therefore not able to measure whether car park usage has increased, reduced or stayed the same since the parking charges were increased," he said.

Data where new machines were installed show increases in revenue between May and July But the council said it did not have any data from previous years to compare with, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Mr Piles said the overall improvement in parking revenue went up by 13%, with the money set to be reinvested in highway services.