A HIKE in council-run parking charges has sparked disappointment in Emsworth.
Visitors will now have to pay £1 for the first hour in the town, an increase of 30 pence.
Havant Borough Councillor Brendan Gibb-Gray has been working closely with Havant Borough Council to locate about 118 spaces around the town, and they are looking to introduce more concessions.
Mr Gibb-Gray, said: “We’re really unhappy about the increase. It does have a knock-on effect. We are competing with supermarkets and big malls where people are going. A lot of our people are elderly and they need their cars to travel and they rightly resent paying a pound to park for an hour.”
Visitors can now receive the second hour of parking free on the fourth Saturday of every month, starting this month.
Giles Babb, chairman of Emsworth Business Association, said: “We are very lucky to have a lot of local independent businesses and the association is set up to support the businesses and increase footfall into the village. The parking increase and the cost of parking keeping on going up is detrimental to the area and in the long run because it affects the council’s revenue.”
The association, which has worked to increase the staying time in some spaces to 45 minutes, said there was a four-hour long-stay car park in North Street behind Tesco Express.