COUNCIL bosses are set to review parking charges in Inverclyde - after analysis showed that local car parks were on average only a third full last year.

A new report sets out three options to address a reduction in the local authority’s income from car parking charges regime.

Charges were set to rise to £3 per day on April 1, but councillors agreed early last month that the increase should not be implemented.

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Elected members will decide on Thursday whether to remove parking charges altogether, standardising charges across the area by marking every off-street car park three hours free/£2 a day or leaving the current regime in place.

Analysis carried out by council officials has compared parking income between 2014 and 2018, when charges were £1 per day, to income between 2018 and 2020, when rates were put up to £2 per day.

Their investigation discovered that on average across all the car parks in Inverclyde there has been a 35 per cent reduction in the number of paid parking tickets.

Officers say this was further compounded to a 73 per cent reduction in their most recent survey data.

Their report states: 'On top of the reduction in the number of patronages in the car parks, new ways of working with hybrid and other models has also had a significant impact on the number of cars parking all day.

'As a result of the post-Covid change in working patterns across the country, with working from home becoming normal practice, the off-street car parks are now only 30 per cent to 50 per cent full.'

A table included in the report reveals that on average local off-street car parks were 33 per cent full in 2022/23.

Council officers are now recommending that members of the environment and regeneration committee agree to keep the current regime in place with the addition of a mobile app which can be used to pay charges.

It is also proposed that officers consider the possibility of standardising car park charges in Inverclyde and report back to the committee.

As part of this process officers would revisit the schemes which are in place for car parks on Lochwinnoch Road in Kilmacolm and Princes Street in Port Glasgow.

Gourock councillor Martin McCluskey, who called for officers to re-examine car park charges last year, told the Telegraph that numerous constituents had contacted him to complain about the current system.

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He said: “From a Gourock perspective I’m continuing to talk to council officers about this issue as it relates to the displacement of cars onto Bath Street, Adelaide Street and Barnhill Road.

“Residents there have been complaining to me for a long time that since the parking charges were increased, they’ve found it nearly impossible to park around those streets because people are opting to park there rather than park in the council car park.

“From a Gourock point of view I want to find a solution that helps those residents.

“I think the data backs up what I was saying last year, which is that we haven’t found the right balance yet between charging and making sure people actually use the car park.

“There are a few things I raised last year that I think are still true - a lot of people, especially in my own ward, don’t realise you get three hours for free.

“The lack of an electronic payment method, which has been addressed in the report, was also an issue so I’m glad they’re taking action to address that.

“In the financial context we’re working in I think the option that officers are recommending is the best one.

“Keeping things as they are is actually bucking the trend in local authority parking across the west of Scotland, people only need to look up the road to Glasgow to see how parking charges are increasing there.”