Glasgow residents face a whopping 40 per cent price hike for parking permits if a proposal by a council department is accepted.
Officials have suggested the cost for residents could rise from £85 a year to £120.
Leaked documents seen by the Record show that the SNP -led council, led by the SNP’s Susan Aitken, is facing a funding gap of £33.9m next year.
Aitken and every other council leader last year penned a letter to Nicola Sturgeon’s Government complaining about the overall settlement for councils.
In Glasgow officials have produced politically difficult options that would help fill the funding black hole.
As revealed by this newspaper, these include axing a holiday scheme for free food for children, withdrawing services for dyslexic pupils, and scrapping swimming lessons for primary aged kids.
Income raising ideas have also been flagged up.
In its "draft budget proposal" , the Neighbourhoods, Regeneration and Sustainability (NRS) department suggested parking fee hikes.
It noted: “The cost of a permit outside of the city centre currently stands at £85 per annum and has remained at this level for some time.
“The cost of a parking permit within the City Centre and the outer City Centre are £285 and £170 p.a. respectively. The rise in costs is to align it with other LA’s who implement similar schemes and to also reflect the increase in cost to manage the operation of resident parking zones.
NRS added: “It is proposed to increase the cost of parking permit charges outside of the City Centre by £35 p.a. (40%) to £120 p.a.
“It is proposed to increase the cost of parking permit charges in the outer City Centre zone by £50 p.a. (30%) to £220 p.a.
“It is proposed to increase the cost of parking permit charges in the City Centre by £65 p.a. (23%) to £350 p.a. This would be implemented from April 2022.”
Other ideas include introducing resident parking permits where the cost is linked to vehicle emissions and price rises for on-street parking.
The budget options were drawn up by council officials and do not reflect the view of the local authority leadership.
A council spokesman said: “As part of the annual budget-setting process, officers develop options on where savings and investment could be considered – and also regularly update a financial forecast; taking into account inflation and the latest information on national settlements.
“Political groups will present their budget proposals next month – and it is for them to decide whether they wish to include any of these options.”
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