REDUCING parking charges will be explored as a way of getting more people to use Okehampton's car parks after borough councillors were told that income had dropped by £60,000 across West Devon.

The borough council's community services committee last week agreed to continue to suspend its car parking strategy to talk to individual towns and parishes about suitable tariffs. It means car parking charges will be frozen for the third year running.

Work will be undertaken in time for the 2014/15 budget review to see whether a reduction in charges would result in the higher use of car parks.

The only car parks where income increased over the past year are Hatherleigh and Chagford. The charges at Chagford, which allow for an extra free hour of parking first thing in the morning, were reviewed at the request of the town.

Councillors were told that some of the decreases were down to the poor summer weather.

Market Street Car Park in Okehampton was down by more than £16,000 but Mill Road suffered less with a decrease of £1,844.

Cllr Robert Oxborough, chairman of the borough council's community services committee, said: 'We work very hard to keep car parking charges at the very lowest they can be, which is why these charges have been frozen by the council for the last two years and again for the forthcoming 12 months.

'In this very tough economic climate, where the borough council is currently trying to bridge a budget gap of around £355,000 for the coming financial year, reducing car parking charges would not be fair to our council tax payers. They rightly expect the council to make the very most of its assets and charge a reasonable tariff in its car parks in order that increases to council tax bills can be kept to a minimum.

'In the meantime, we continue to work in partnership with our communities on this issue. We are in talks with some town organisations to come up with new initiatives to give better value for money in our car parks and hopefully we will be in a position to announce these plans very soon.'

Okehampton Chamber of Trade chair Ian Bailey said he was 'delighted' to hear the borough council is considering lowering car parking rates for Okehampton, and he hoped a scheme providing times of free parking similar to the one in Chagford could get the go-ahead.

'I think a move to reduce car parking charges in the town could help an awful lot of businesses in Okehampton and help to bring more people into the town.

'The chamber of trade here has said for many years that a big issue is car parking rates, and that it affects the number of people visiting and how long they spend in the town.

'We have begged the borough council in the past to lower car park rates, and I am delighted to hear that they are considering doing so in the future. Other towns across the country have shown that it is viable to lower charges to attract people in, and we should look to do the same.

'In the past, we have asked for periods of the day where it is free to park in the town. We think an early morning hour of free parking like Chagford could provide a lot of benefits for Okehampton too.

'It is good news that the charges have been frozen for a year, considering the financial climate.

'Of course, we would far rather see reductions in charges in the future, but we are grateful for any help at the moment from the borough council. We know times are tough so we fully appreciate their support.'