A row has erupted after it was revealed that some parking charges across the north-east could double.
Since Aberdeenshire Council introduced a period of free parking in 2014, it has seen profits plummet and now faces an annual deficit of about £140,000.
Now Banff and Buchan councillors have recommended above the rate of inflation increases be introduced to help the council claw back the cash.
Critics have warned the recommendations, which will now be put to the council for final decision, will have a damaging impact on businesses and tourism.
At the Banff and Buchan area committee, councillors eventually accepted that a free hour in Banff and Fraserburgh should be maintained and that charges thereafter should increase.
In real terms, a two hour stay would increase from £1.20 to £1.50, and stays of up to 10 hours would double to £10 from £5.
Their views will be fed into the council’s infrastructure services committee later in the year, which will make a final decision on which options to pursue.
They include scrapping the free hour completely and reviewing the operating hours of each of the region’s car parks.
Tempers have since flared following the meeting, however, with a rift dividing the committee’s senior Conservative and SNP members.
SNP councillors, led by Fraserburgh councillor Brian Topping, had proposed increasing the parking charges below the rate of inflation but were voted down.
Mr Topping said the administration’s scheme would be “detrimental”.
He said: “We are regeneration towns and we’re supposed to be trying to help town centres.
“Since the free hour was introduced in 2014, the amount of people coming into our high streets has tripled. Is that not a good thing?
“We want to attract more investment and bring in more shops, and if we have parking facilities like this people are less likely to congest surrounding streets.
“The administration want the increases as suggested in the report because they think it should be cost neutral. People are paying their council tax to cover this service, just like swimming pools which also won’t ever make their money back.
“I certainly feel it’ll be detrimental to local businesses if it goes ahead.”
Conservative Andy Kille, the chairman of the Banff and Buchan area committee, said the SNP group’s motion would have resulted in other services being cut.
The committee also agreed it would be beneficial to bring Huntly into line with other council car parks.
The town is the only one in Aberdeenshire which does not have a free period of parking.
Previously, local councillor Robbie Withey has said people in the community “are being treated unfairly” because they have to pay 60p to park their car and go into a shop.
Another option being examined by Aberdeenshire Council is converting existing free parking areas into pay and display facilities.
In his report, Stephen Archer, the council’s director of infrastructure services, said: “While the introduction of the free tariffs have resulted in an increase in use, it has also had a significant impact on revenue
“Before the revised tariffs, income from car parking charges was £100k to £200k greater than the expenditure on car parks.
“That situation changed to one where the position was reversed.
“It is also anticipated that in future years the current budget allocation for repairs and maintenance will not be sufficient to ensure a satisfactory standard of maintenance within the car parks.”
