Stafford and Stone car park charges set to rise - council

The evening and Sunday charge will rise from £1 to £1.10 in Stafford

Visitors to two Staffordshire towns will have to pay more to use council-run car parks from January.

The changes would affect Stafford Borough Council's car parks in the town centre and in Stone from 1 January, the authority said.

The evening and Sunday charge in Stafford would rise from £1 to £1.10, with the one hour charge increasing from 70p to 80p in Stone, it added.

The changes were formally approved at a council meeting this week.

Fees and charges were also set to go up for services including garden waste collection, which would rise from £36 to £42 for the year, according to the council.

Labour councillor Ralph Cooke, cabinet member for resources, said the garden waste fee reflected "planned increases in the 2023-24 budget created by the Conservatives".

He said the authority could solve the parking increases by changing the machines to accept 5p coins.

But the "cost of doing that would probably be the economics of a madhouse, so they are rounded up by 10p," he explained.