SHOPPERS will be driven out of Oxford city centre by any increases to car parking charges, traders have claimed.

In January this year, Oxford City Council increased its car park charges by an average of 15 per cent in a bid to raise an additional £500,000.

Town hall bosses want to increase prices again in the new year to raise an additional £165,000, which they said will help keep council tax rises down.

Ryan Barr, 35, of Ryouki Sneaker Boutique in St Ebbe’s Street, said: “This latest increase could be another nail in the coffin for some independent traders – we have seen a massive drop in footfall over the past two years.

“Shoppers will go to Witney, Reading, Milton Keynes or Westfield in London because the high charges in Oxford are already putting them off.”

The council wants to increase Sunday to Friday fees by 10p in city centre car parks for those parking for less than an hour between 8am and 8pm. Drivers will be charged an extra 10p for evening stays on those days.

An hour’s parking would cost £2.40, except at Gloucester Green where the charge would rise from £3 to £3.10.

On Saturdays, charges would increase by 10p to £3 for those parking for less than an hour – with no additional charge for evening parking.

At Gloucester Green, an hour’s parking on a Saturday would rise from £3.80 to £3.90.

Elsewhere, charges at some suburban car parks are set to increase by 10p for the first hour and a further 10p for parking between one and two hours, Monday to Saturday.

Council leader Bob Price said: “If you come into Oxford on Saturday, the city centre is packed, and we are freezing charges for people that park for more than an hour.

“For most people there will be no change to the car parking tariff.”

John Partington, of Chocology in the Covered Market, called on the council to freeze or reduce parking charges.

He said: “If it keeps putting the charges up then shoppers are going to go elsewhere.”

Andy Margieson, manager of the Clarendon Centre, said: “This is an increase that city centre traders could do without because shoppers are already aware of how expensive it is to park in Oxford.”

Bobby Brill, lead bookseller at Waterstone’s bookshop in Cornmarket Street, added: “This is ridiculous – I didn’t think parking charges in Oxford could go any higher.”

Claire Prosser, policy executive at Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce, said Oxford was “infamous” for its expensive city centre car parking, but had one of the best park-and-ride systems in the country.

A council report calls the suggested increase “modest” and says there would be little effect as most shoppers stay longer than one hour.