Councillors proposing upping parking costs in council-owned car parks across the borough have refused to bow down to pressure from opposition members.

After a review of Swale council’s fees and charges, from April next year drivers could be charged 50p for half-an-hour and £1 for an hour - up 20p from the current level.

Staying two hours would cost £2, a 50p rise, and up to four hours would be £4, an increase of £1.

The matter was discussed at an extraordinary meeting of the council’s Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday.

Labour leader Cllr Roger Truelove, who opposes the increases, said: “The justification for these rises is that Swale needs to come in line with other Kent authorities.

“This ignores the fact that average incomes in Swale are below our neighbours.

“These car park charges take £1.5 million out of the local retail economy.

“I am proposing that we try to test the impact on retail by having some periodical freezes on any charges.”

Cllr Truelove suggested making parking free, possibly on a Friday or a Saturday, and his proposal was seconded by UKIP leader Cllr Mike Baldock but was defeated by the Conservative majority on the panel.

“I wasn’t suggesting every day and I wasn’t suggesting every car park in the borough,” added Cllr Truelove. “But if you said this is what we are doing it might get a few more people in the town.”

Cllr Baldock’s proposal to freeze the charges as they are now for another year was seconded by Cllr Truelove but was not supported by the Tory members.

Commenting before last week’s meeting, Cllr Duncan Dewar-Whalley, cabinet member for finance at the council, said: “Like most councils, we have faced very significant reductions in funding from central Government in recent years, and despite this we have been able to hold parking charges at their current levels since 2011, and avoided the types of annual increases seen elsewhere.

“With further reductions in funding expected over the next three years, we have had to reconsider this position and have taken the deliberate decision to propose these charges and continue to allow us to provide high quality services to local people, rather than increase council tax.

“The proposed charges only apply to the 27 of our 48 car parks that are not free to use, and are still competitive compared to other Kent councils, and we hope that if they are approved this will be the only increase for many years to come.”

The fees and charges review is on the agenda for Wednesday's full council meeting.