The 20p for 15 minutes on-street parking fee in Scarborough will be scrapped in favour of a new minimum charge of 40p for 30 minutes.

Other changes will see the cost of tradesmen's permits more than double from £12 per permit to £25 for the first and second permit, £50 for the third and £75 for the fourth permit onwards.

Business permits will also go up to £50 for the second permit, £75 for the third and £100 for the fourth onwards. A new charge for garage permits will also be introduced at £20 each.

In town pay-and-display car parks, charges are also being overhauled. Charging for pay-and-display car parks will be regularised to a proposed £4 for up to 24 hours – an increase of 50p for some areas and a 50p cut for others.

Annual pay-and-display permits will rise by up to 25 per cent in some areas, including Albion Road, Friars Way, Westwood and William Street.

The residents' permits will be frozen at £12 for the fifth year running.
Scarborough Council said the changes will make the system more consistent and simplify on-street charging bands to provide more generous time slots.

Fifteen-minute parking slots will be scrapped in streets including Aberdeen Walk, Albemarle Crescent, Newborough, North Street, Queen Street, St Nicholas Cliff, St Thomas Street, The Crescent, Valley Bridge and Victoria Road.

Gross income from off-street parking in the borough was £3.3 million in 2003/04.

A further £622,330 was made from on-street parking, although Scarborough Council officers said its parking system is not intended as a revenue raising act and the money helps pay for the system.

The most controversial element of the changes had been the planned increase in charges for scratchcards for visitors, which were to go up from 10p for up to a week to £1, prompting complaints from hoteliers, and a 50p charge for a four-day scratchcard was set instead.