| Newbury shoppers will have to pay 10p an hour extra to park in the town centre from April, in a bid by the Tory-run district council to raise an extra £230,000 a year from motorists.
Workers will be hammered too with an extra £100 a year – from £580 to £680 – slapped on season ticket holders. The latter move is to cut the number of permit holders because of fears that too many car parks will be removed for the Vision, before the proposed multi-storeys get up and running.
Despite a tax rise of 2.9% from the first local Conservative budget in a decade, the parking rate rise is equivalent to a 0.25% rise.
However, the council has introduced a 30p half hour rate at seven shortstay car parks, such as Market Place – which will be removed in eight months’ time – and Bear Lane. | 
