HARBOUR groups at West Bay and Lyme Regis say they remain concerned about the impact of high Dorset Council parking charges for the economy of both areas.

Both say there has been a decline in visitors and fear that both tourists and locals will continue to be put off by the £15 per day summer parking fees.

“The charges increased last year from £2 to £15 a day, although £2 was extremely cheap, but raising it to £15 is causing concern for the traders at West Bay…it’s more like central London prices than West Bay,” said Gavin Brooking from the West Bay Harbour Consultative Group.

He said that efforts to get official parking figures from Dorset Council had been difficult but the Chamber of Commerce believe that there has been a 23 per cent fall in parking at West Bay year on year.

“The (Dorset) Council have put it down to weather, but I don’t think that is likely,” he told a meeting of the harbours consultative committee.

Mr Brooking said that most felt the higher charges were not sustainable and wanted the council to look at reducing the fees.

READ MORE: 'Concern for West Bay traders as parking prices soar'

Similar concerns were raised by Nick Marks from the Lyme Regis Harbour Consultative group, who said that in addition to tourists, the cost of parking was important to those who had moorings at the harbour, which he speculated could partly be the reason for a fall in demand for boat spaces for the coming season.

Dorset Council’s portfolio holder for highways and harbours, Ray Bryan, has insisted that much of the fall in car park use at both harbours was due to poor weather in July and August last year, rather than an increase in council charges.

Dorset Council has said that, at the moment, it has no plans to increase overall car parking fees in its car parks this year, although the normal winter-summer changes will still operate. It said fee levels will remain under review, helped by better data collection from new parking machines which have been installed in recent months.

The stand-still in car parking fees comes at a time when most council charges will be increasing by five per cent from this month (April), including council tax rises.