New car parking charges will be introduced in Rutland next month. 

From September 1, Rutland County Council (RCC) is proposing a new set of costs, although details of what the charging structure will be has not been made public. Currently there is free parking for 30 minutes in Oakham. 

A new parking strategy for the county was discussed at the RCC scrutiny meeting on 31st July, which included a report that said the income gained from parking charges is 'critical' to the council's budget. In the most recent financial year an income of just over £616,500 was made across the council's owned car parks and the authority has said that over the next three years it wants to bring an additional £250,000 in parking income. 

At the meeting the council's director of place Penny Sharp said a new parking strategy was needed. 

She said: "It is timely now to look at refreshing the parking strategy and make sure we future proof it. We are very often at capacity, particularly in Oakham car parks and we need to give some consideration as to how we might address that. 

"There are some issues that we are aware of particularly around coach parking which is a perennial concern, and we want the parking strategy to be supporting our visitor economy ambitions as well as enabling our residents to access services." 

In recent weeks some traders in Oakham have said they would like free parking in the town to be increased in order to entice shoppers to stay longer.  

At the meeting, Labour's Cllr Ramsay Ross said the council needed to consider the competition position of the high street versus out-of-town retail.  

"We can't simply impose an increase in daytime on our high streets in isolation from the retail offers we have where there is free parking. That is something that concerns me greatly. Particularly how these small retailers are struggling." 

The authority will now begin to put the new strategy together and speak with local councils and businesses for their input. 

Ms Sharp said setting charges was 'always a fine balance' and charges needed to be increased now in order for the council to cover its costs which include increased national insurance costs.