A call to reintroduce half-hour charges at the city’s car parks has been rejected by councillors.

Tory councillor Stephen Hodgson had called on Worcester City Council to bring back half-hour rates for parking in Worcester – six months after they were controversially scrapped – but the move was turned down by councillors after a vote.

Half-hour charges were abandoned altogether when parking fees at city council-owned car parks went up for the first time in 14 years in April – forcing drivers to pay for an hour.

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The plea was rejected with the Conservatives crushed by Labour, the Greens and the Lib Dems when it was put to a vote during the full council meeting in the Guildhall on Tuesday (September 26) night.

Cllr Hodgson, who represents Warndon Parish North, called on councillors to look at reintroducing the 30-minute fee “as soon as possible” to “help those who just need to make a brief visit in the city centre.”

Cllr Marjory Bisset, leader of the Greens and joint leader of the council, said research from six months ago – before the decision to raise parking charges was made – showed that “very few” cities had half-hour parking charges.

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“We only made this change less than six months ago and it’s far too early to consider [reintroducing it]. I don’t think there’s good evidence that it even was that popular.”

Green councillor Tor Pingree said: “Having a one-hour parking fee encourages people to stay longer in Worcester and our businesses benefit from that. There are many places in Worcester that you can park for 45 minutes for free so if they would like to do that, they can.”

Cllr Mel Allcott, leader of the Lib Dem group, said the number of people using the car parks had not dropped since prices had risen.

“People who want to come and park, still come and park,” she said.

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The price of parking in council-owned car parks had not moved since 2009, despite rising costs and inflation, and free parking had been offered during the run-up to Christmas for several years.

The across-the-board increases meant drivers faced a rise in charges of up to 25 per cent – or 60p – for parking two hours at the city’s busiest car parks.

The council believed that increased charges could raise around £350,000 extra a year.

Council bosses said that the price of running its 14 car parks had risen by almost eight per cent since 2021 and the money it brought in from charges – which was the council’s single biggest source of income and generates around £3 million a year – needed to rise so that it “at least kept pace with costs.”

The fee increase proved to be a contentious issue when it came to setting this year’s council budget with then Tory and council leader Chris Mitchell angered by the proposed rise.

This led to the Conservatives voting against the council’s own budget, but it was nevertheless still passed with the support from Labour, the Greens and the Lib Dems.