COUNCILLORS are being recommended to ignore huge public opposition to charging for car parks on Sundays in Wellington and other towns across Somerset and bring in the fees next year anyway.

Executive members of Somerset Council meeting on Wednesday (December 3) are being recommended to support the controversial move.

Members of a council scrutiny committee have already voted against the idea and 93 per cent of people who responded to a public consultation also opposed it.

But the near-bankrupt council is still being recommended to go ahead with the charges from next April to raise £730,000 at a time when the authority is forecast to be £727,000 overspent by the end of the financial year and faces a budget shortage of £101 million.

Council executive director Chris Hall said the decision would mean ‘consistency’ across all the authority’s car parks in Somerset rather than parking in some being free and some paid for.

Mr Hall said it would also be a ‘fairer system’ where car parking operation and maintenance was shared equally by all customers.

He said an analysis by consultants did not find any ‘clear evidence’ that introducing Sunday parking charges would have either a positive or negative impact in any of the towns involved.

Mr Hall said the consultants found that although there was a ‘perception’ that Sunday charging would put off people visiting towns, the reality was that many other factors affected visitors.

He said making people pay on Sundays as well as on Saturdays would spread visitor numbers across the weekend and avoid ‘one quieter day and one very busy day with reduced visitor experience’.

Mr Hall said parking fees were also used to support local economies by minimising the adverse environmental impacts of traffic.

He said if the charges were not introduced there could be an impact on the council’s ability to balance its budget and deliver services.

Under the current fees structure people would pay £3.20 to park for the day on Sundays in any of Wellington’s three public car parks.

A final decision on the issue is due to be taken by a special meeting of the full council being held in Bridgwater on Wednesday, December 17.