WITH Christmas less than two weeks away, this weekend will no doubt see frantic shoppers rushing for the last few bits.

So the news that charges for parking in the city are to rise is more Scrooge than festive cheer.

Up to 15p more an hour may not seem like a huge amount but as we know it all adds up.

Shoppers coming into the city centre have to battle enough through the traffic, and then there’s the challenge of finding a space.

To be hit harder in the pocket will not do much to attract people to the city centre or to help traders struggling with the competition of online shopping.

And to top it all off the city council has made £4.1m surplus in charges.

Quite rightly those hit by the increases have questioned why that money cannot be put back into the pot to ease off any rise.

Of course we realise that money is needed for the big projects we have coming up. But surely that money has already been allocated from the budget.

There is an argument in encouraging more people to use public transport and the park-and-ride sites but these aren’t exempt from rises either.

Let’s hope that more can be done instead to stop people from shopping elsewhere and keep city centre traders in business.