WEYMOUTH is pressing on with its plea to keep at least some of the town’s car park income.

Borough councillors have backed a call to ask for at least 25 per cent of the income from town centre car parks for the new town council .

If agreed that could mean an extra £600,000 to £700,000 a year – although nothing will change in the coming financial year.

Cold water was immediately poured on the suggestion by Cllr Tony Ferrrari who holds the finance brief for the shadow Dorset Council.

He told borough councillors at their meeting on Thursday evening that it was wrong to think Weymouth was getting little from the new unitary council and that budgets had already been set to protect key services such as social care and children’s services. He said it was extremely unlikely there would be a change of heart over the car parks.

Mr Ferrari said that it had already been accepted that the creation of a new town council made Weymouth a ‘special case’ and the town was being put on the same footing as other towns, such as Dorchester, because of that.

“What you are asking is for the rest of Dorset to subsidise you,” he said.

Alderman David Harris added his voice to the debate claiming that Weymouth councillors had been excluded from discussions and even when he was allowed to attend a meeting it was only on the basis that he said nothing.

He said he wanted the new Weymouth Town Council to have the town’s main car parks: “I know we will be told that it is pointless to ask but we don’t need to be bullied. If the shadow executive (Dorset Council) turn us down at least we know who is to blame…fight for your town, not your party,” he said.

Current proposals will see all of the Weymouth council car parks transferred to the new Dorset Council, which comes into being in April.

Weymouth councillors have been accused at recent meetings of not fighting hard enough to retain the town’s assets – while accepting liabilities such as the parks, allotments and public toilets.

Cllr Huckle said that in recent talks about car park income with the shadow Dorset Council he had found “the door quite easy to push open.” He said the argument had been helped by the Weymouth consistently producing car park income above budget, so that a share of the fees ought to be easier to justify because there was an excess amount.

The council decision means that talks about the car park income will continue with Dorset Council over the coming 12 months with the aim of any changes, if anything can be agreed, being introduced for the 2020-21 budget.