FREE evening parking in Mal-vern Hills District Council car parks will end next month.

Businesses fear round-the-clock charges will hit the local economy, discouraging visitors from going to Malvern Theatres or eating out.

Councillors have expressed surprise such an important decision was taken without any debate at all, but simply voted through as part of the budget package.

When the charges are introduced on April 3, neighbouring towns such as Ledbury, Bromyard, Pershore, Evesham and Droitwitch will continue to offer free parking after 6pm.

Robin Elt, chairman of Great Malvern traders association and The Malverns Experience, said: "I'm certainly not impressed because the whole idea of The Malverns Experience and the council should be for the regeneration of the economy in central Malvern."

Kaiser Ahmed, owner of the Anupam restaurant in Church Street, agreed.

"This is bad news for Malvern," he said. "People still make the comment that parking is difficult. A lot of people won't consider paying after 6pm. When they see there are penalties they won't come here."

Currently evening charges only apply in the Grange Road car parks next to Malvern Theatres.

The new charges will apply in all MHDC car parks, although it will still be possible to park at Waitrose. Car parks will be closed between 4am to 5am to discourage overnight parking.

Di Rayner, leader of MHDC, said the increased charges would help keep council tax below the rate of inflation.

"You can either have high council tax and free parking or high parking charges and lower council tax," she said.

Street scene wardens will police the new charges, as they already work in the evenings and early mornings.

Coun Rayner said the parking change was one of a long list of items approved in the council's budget.

"If we debated everything in a budget we'd be there for weeks," she said.

"This is really housekeeping, not a major policy change and is part of a three-year income generating plan."

Priory ward councillor Roger Hall-Jones described round the clock charging as a "stealth tax".

"It's part of the district council's drive for revenue rather than services," he said.