The cost of using Kent’s most expensive council car parks is set to rise again despite calls for the sky-high rates to be slashed.

Canterbury City Council (CCC) was earlier this year accused of “cashing in” by increasing hourly charges at its most popular sites to £3.70.

For some car parks, this meant a hike of £2.10 an hour, with residents and traders criticising the decision and urging the authority to cut the rates amid the rising cost of living.

Yet fresh proposals reveal the Labour-Lib Dem coalition now wants to put the fees up again – and add two more Canterbury sites to the most expensive tariff.

Hourly rates would increase to £3.80, amounting to a 41% rise at the North Lane and Castle Row car parks if they are moved into the highest banding.

CCC does propose to freeze the cost of using 4,000 spaces at the district’s less popular sites, but with the number of people parking in the city falling since April, critics argue charges should be cut across the board.

Mehmet Dari, who runs restaurants in Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay, said: “The council needs to look at how people are suffering with the cost of living.

“The prices are already ridiculously high and now they want to put them up further.

“They might say it’s only 10p for some car parks, but already less people are coming to Canterbury so they should be putting the prices down, not up.

“We haven’t put our prices up in two years because we know people are struggling.”

On the proposals to add North Lane car park to the highest tariff, Mr Dari, who runs a branch of his A La Turka chain nearby, added: “Our customers will end up paying the same for parking as they would for their meal.

“It’s just not a good time to be doing this, but the council doesn’t listen.

“If they’re not going to put prices down, they should at least freeze them everywhere.”

Oscar Lowton, who owns Superstore Vintage in Canterbury, added: “People already moan about the parking, and the rate it’s gone up in the past year is more than inflation.

“It'd be a shame to see independent businesses disappear because people stop coming.”

In April, CCC moved all of its car parks into five standard tariff bands, with those in the priciest hit with an hourly rate of £3.70.

This saw fees in seven sites across Canterbury and Whitstable rise by at least £1.20 an hour, and in two cases in the coastal town by £2.10.

Since then, revenue from Canterbury city centre car parks has gone up by 10%, but the number of people using them has fallen by 1.7%.

But the council wants to increase the number of car parks in the top band and hike rates at those already charging the highest tariff to generate an extra £361,420 a year from almost 1,500 spaces.

Canterbury resident David Kemsley, 77, has accused the council – which generates more than twice as much money from parking as any other authority in Kent – of “milking the cow until it’s dry”.

“I feel that in the last two or three years there has been a distinct lack of imagination and innovation in the way that car park charges are calculated.

“To me, it just seems that they're operating on the basis of an expectation that demand will continue to rise, which I doubt, and that they will put the price up until the point where it becomes uneconomic.

“These car parking charges are ensuring that people stay away and no longer come into Canterbury in the evening – they’re milking the cow until it’s dry.”

Paul Lang, a 40-year-old property manager from Canterbury, previously told how the higher fees were deterring visitors to the city.

“A lot of the time if I’m meeting up with friends, and they’re from Ashford or Maidstone, I’ll probably go to them,” he said.

“They all moan about the prices because parking here is so expensive and such an issue for them.”

Juliana Araujo, who runs the Quick Bites Brazilian food truck on Station Road West, added: “Everything in Canterbury including parking is expensive, and it keeps going up.

“It makes people unhappy, it makes them want to leave – it’s no good.”

While many have criticised the proposed rises, some believe the council has little choice but to raise money where it can to fund services amid cuts to central funding.

Sturry resident Peta Boucher said: “I think [raising parking rates] is detrimental to the economy of Canterbury, but I don't know how else they're going to claw money back.”

Keith Martin, who runs Maria's Coffee Lounge in St Peter’s Street, believes the proposals will have little impact on trade.

"Would I have a good rant about it? Maybe 20 years ago, but nowadays it's a different story on the high street,” he said,

"If you're going to come, you're going to come - it's just a changing horizon.

"Are people going to worry about the price of parking? Well, if you're going to go spend £200 on The Ivy, probably not too much.

“60% of our trade now is online delivery, so what does that tell you?"

Cllr Alex Ricketts, who is leading the parking proposals as the cabinet member for transport, said: “Everyone who lives, works and studies in Canterbury knows it is impossible to drive around the city at certain times of the day and how difficult it is to find a space in our most popular car parks.

“We have to cut the queues and change people’s habits. Park & Ride is key.

“These proposals are designed to reduce the demand for city centre car parking spaces and persuade people and businesses to use low-cost and convenient alternatives like the Park & Ride scheme.

“They align with our emerging bus-led transport strategy which is aimed at making alternatives to the car far more attractive to cut congestion, boost air quality and combat climate change.”

If more price rises are brought in it would mean someone who paid £6.40 for a four-hour stay in Whitstable’s Gorrell Tank in March faces paying £15.20 for the same stay next April.

The rates are already the highest in Kent, with only Thanet and Folkestone charging more than £2 an hour, and only in the summer months.

But while fees are being increased or frozen in most car parks, at two sites in the district there are proposed reductions.

It is planned to cut the hourly rate from £2.70 to £1.90 at the council’s Riverside leisure complex in a move likely designed to encourage more visitors to the site.

The daily charge at School Lane car park in Herne is also set to be slashed from £15 to £1.60 after being hiked from £2.20 in April – a move that sparked outrage among villagers.

CCC says its proposals are part of a strategy to reduce congestion and demand for spaces in the city centre, while encouraging motorists to use its three Park & Ride sites.

It was revealed last month the authority expects to lose £388,388 on the bus service this year, with close to £30,000 a month spent subsidising the previously mothballed Sturry Road terminal, which reopened in April.

The authority hopes to increase usage across the board by introducing an annual Park & Ride permit costing £600, or £480 with a residents’ discount.

It also proposes a corporate account for businesses that would reduce the daily cost from £4 to £2.50.

The proposals will be discussed on Monday by CCC’s cabinet, which will decide whether to put them out for an eight-week public consultation.

If agreed, any feedback will be considered before the plans are officially signed off early next year and introduced in April.

Cllr Ricketts said: “Parking charges are never popular but the income they generate helps to pay for vital frontline services like waste collections or providing temporary accommodation for families that find themselves without a roof over their heads.

“Feedback from the public has been instrumental in the formation of this set of proposals and, if Cabinet gives its permission to consult, we’re keen to hear everyone’s views before any final decisions are taken early next year.”

Canterbury Conservative leader Rachel Carnac, whose party increased hourly rates in two city car parks to £3.50 under her predecessor, says the proposals are “worrying”.

"These Lab/Lib parking proposals are yet more of the same old, same old, only taking into account the council's desire to make yet more money, but paying no heed to the difficult position businesses find themselves in,” she said.

“The focus on careering towards more walking, cycling, use of public transport and Park & Ride, without taking on board the impact of further parking price increases on local town centres and tourism, is worrying.”

The Tory also hit out at the proposed plans for Park & Ride, saying taxpayers’ money could be better spent elsewhere.

“Sturry Road is barely used and has been heavily subsidised by parking increases elsewhere, such as in Herne, Reculver and Whitstable, and has sucked in money that could have been more effectively used on providing other council services,” she said.