PARKING charges in Haslemere are to go up from February as part of a bid by Waverley Borough Council to raise extra cash. All-day ticket prices for the Chestnut Avenue car park will increase by 50p a day while the High Street car park will see new hourly charges introduced. At a Waverley Borough Council meeting on Tuesday night, it was agreed that from February the price of a two-hour ticket at all the borough's car parks will increase from 60p to 70p - a move which will bring in an extra £70,000 per year. The pricing structure at the High Street car park has been reviewed and will be 50p per hour - netting an extra £40,000 a year. Currently tickets cost 40p for 45 minutes, 60p for two hours, £1 for three hours and 50p per hour thereafter. The Liberal Democrat-led borough council claims that this move will free up spaces for those only wishing to use the car park for short periods and encourage people wishing to remain in Haslemere for longer periods to use the Chestnut Avenue car park. However, its charges will also increase. On top of the increase in the two-hour rate, there will be a hike in the all-day ticket price as well as the season ticket price. Currently an all-day ticket at the Chestnut Avenue car park costs £2 but will go up to £2-50 - an increase of 25 per cent. Season tickets costing £460 will go up by £100 to £560 a year - a 22 per cent increase - as part of a standardisation of prices. At the meeting of the council, the parking-charge increases were strongly criticised by Conservatives. Amendments were put forward by shadow portfolio holder, John Sandy, proposing a rethink of proposals for four car parks. Mr Sandy particularly criticised the new charges for the High Street car park where he said there will be an increase of 66 per cent in the two-hour charge and a 33 per cent overall increase will be seen. Mr Sandy called the increases "outrageous and grossly unreasonable", describing them as "predictably in line with the usual Liberal Democrat anti-car policy". He added: "You will not help the economy by driving car users out of the borough. This is horrendous and damaging and totally unacceptable." Lib Dem councillor Victor Scrivens, however, spoke in favour of the increases. "What's damaging the economy is the failure of the Tories to do anything for five years, when they were in power," he said. "The fact is that there are traffic issues that we have to face" Council leader Chris Slyfield added: "The Lib Dem money tree has not got any money left on it because the Conservatives used so much up when they were in power. We won't vote for the amendments." After a vote, none of the amendments were passed by the council and the recommendation to increase the charges was agreed. In a Waverley Borough Council statement, issued after the meeting, executive portfolio holder John Robini said: "With Waverley set to receive an increase in government grant of less than one per cent, it is important that we maximise the return from our assets. "We are working hard to keep council tax increases as low as possible so, by using the car parks more efficiently we believe that we will be able to increase revenue by £285,000." He added: "Although we acknowledge that given the choice, nobody would choose to pay more for parking, it does mean that people who visit, but do not live in the borough, will contribute to the cost of providing the services that they enjoy using. Our car parks are and remain extremely competitive."