A LABOUR council has waged war on motorists by hiking the cost of parking permits by more than 500 per cent.
Residents living under the control of Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire currently pay £15 to park outside their homes for the duration of a car’s life.
But from April, the cash-strapped authority will impose annual fees of £50 per vehicle for those renewing their permits.
This means that locals will be moved onto the new, much higher tariff next time they replace their motor.
And homes must pay an additional £50 a year if they have a second car, or if they want a blanket pass to allow visitors to park outside their homes, which was previously free.
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Across a five-year period (the average amount of time Brits own a car before replacing it), this will see charges for a single car plus visitor pass go up from £75 to £500 - equivalent to a hike of 566 per cent.
Kirklees Council - which administers the towns and villages around Huddersfield - says the drastic move is necessary to battle a £47m budget black hole.
But furious residents have slammed councillors for “punishing” them and fear they won’t be able to afford to park outside their homes.
Campaigner Ashleigh Robinson, 32, has secured hundreds of signatures in the village of Lindley demanding a U-turn.
She said: “We all understand the position the council is in but it’s about choices.
“The council blew £250,000 installing three ugly planters last year and now they’re trying to save money by targeting residents to park outside their homes.
“They shouldn’t be punished for the council’s poor spending decisions.
“Maybe they could argue the fee could go up to £30 - but a family with two cars will end up paying £500 over five years.
“The people this affects are on lower fixed incomes - they’re not people who have driveways.
“A lot of them are elderly and are already struggling with the cost of living. This is just another blow and some people have said they just can’t afford it.”
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Council figures say the residential permit hike will affect around 5,200 motorists.
And more than 4,300 households will also pay for a visitor pass - which were free but will now also cost £50.
In Lindley, where permit parking was brought in to counter visitors to the nearby Huddersfield Royal Infirmary from using residential streets, there was widespread anger over the price hike.
Pensioner Judith Carter, 87, told how she barely uses her car but needs it as a lifeline to get to the supermarket.
She said: “I pay road tax, my council tax is going up and now they’re charging £50 a year to park outside my house. I think it’s disgusting.
“The council wastes money on all sorts of vanity projects and now they want to go after us to save money.
“I rely on the state pension so my budget is already very tight. I’ve just paid the electricity and gas bill and now there’s not much left.
“I’ve got to have a car, really, so I’ll have to pay it. But I’ll have to cut costs elsewhere.
“I just think ‘what’s the point?’ How much are they really going to save by doing this?”
I think the council have got themselves so much in debt they need to crawl money back from somewhere.
Lynn Hawksworth
Lib Dem councillor Anthony Smith, 53, who opposed the permit increase, said town hall bosses had estimated the charges would bring in up to £500,000 a year.
He said: “The money they think it will bring in is barely more than a rounding error in the council’s budget. It barely makes a ripple of difference.
“But the impact it will have on local people is huge.
"It’s completely unjustifiable when already-stretched households are already battling so many other pressures.
Lynn Hawksworth, 54, faces paying £100 each for two cars used by husband Andrew and son Lewis, 17.
She said: “It’s a bloody nightmare, to be honest.
“We’re paying to park outside our house and sometimes we can’t even do that, because people using the hospital are parking there.
“The wardens used to come around but you don’t see them as much anymore. So people park here for free and don’t get penalised - we live here and do get penalised.
“To go from £15 to £600 over six years is ridiculous.
“I think the council have got themselves so much in debt they need to crawl money back from somewhere.
“We just don’t need this on top of everything else.”
More than 300 people in Lindley have signed a petition against the hike, which was presented at a council meeting last week.
Under other council plans, electric vehicle drivers who are able to park for free in the area’s town hall-run car parks will have to pay £150 a year.
The authority is also set to increase car park charges across the borough.
Councillor Aafaq Butt, council cabinet member for Culture and Greener Kirklees, said: "The recent review of the parking permit scheme identified that the current charge of £15 for life falls short of the costs associated with providing the service.
"This includes enforcement, administration, lining and signing maintenance.
"The essential associated costs are currently subsidised by the council, which should not be the case as the service is not open to all.
The increase in fee would not only prevent this use of tax-payer money but enable us to provide a better level of service.
"All comments received as part of the consultation, which ended last month, are being considered before implementing any changes."
