Three Rivers District Council is reviewing its plans to introduce short-term parking charges in a town centre.

There are proposals to introduce one hour of free parking in the short-stay car parks in Rickmansworth with a new fee of £1.00 to park a further hour.

Visitors to the town will also be able to pay £2.50 to park for three hours and £4 for four hours.

The changes are part of a traffic order consultation that has been launched this week and will end on February 5.

If the proposed scheme goes ahead it is likely to start in late spring this year.

Cllr Sara Bedford previously told the Observer: “The council has been running parking operations at a loss for a number of years, which is now not allowed.

“In order to bring the finances into balance, and to increase the turnover of parking spaces available for passing trade, limited restrictions are being introduced.

“Almost every council in the country now charges for parking. Three Rivers will continue to offer free short stay parking, which again very few councils offer.”

The changes were proposed by a cross-party Working Group including local councillors from each political party, as part of a raft of measures to address the problem that providing free car parking was costing local taxpayers around £180,000 each year.

This proposal is intended to “protect taxpayers’ money and increase the turnover of vehicles using short-stay parking, making it easier for shoppers and other visitors to find parking by encouraging shorter stays in short-stay bays to support local retail businesses”.

Payment will also be accepted only by payment card and new machines that do not accept cash could be introduced in all car parks in the town.

Car parks where charging is intended to be introduced in Rickmansworth are:

• Ebury House car park

• High Street (West) car park

• Northway multilevel upper and lower level car parks

• Rose Garden car park

• Talbot Road (West, North side) car parks

• Three Rivers House multilevel

To make the Northway lower-level car park easier to use, it is proposed to change it to a long-stay car park.

The short stay bays it provides would be replaced by converting the Talbot Road (High Street) car park to short-stay.

The proposed parking places order can be viewed here: http://www.threerivers.gov.uk/egcl-page/traffic-order-notices

Any responses must be put in writing and posted to the District Council or emailed to parking@threerivers.gov.uk.