Birmingham City Council is planning to almost triple the cost of parking for some Saturday shoppers – by axing the best deal in town.

According to notices posted in Snow Hill car park, the discounted ‘shoppers’ rate of £3 for any five hours after 9.30am on Saturdays is being ‘removed’.

The plan means shoppers wanting to stay for five hours on Saturdays from April 1, 2017 will have to pay £8.50 instead of £3.

At this multi-storey car park, above Snow Hill railway station and Metro line, Saturday shoppers who want to spend time in the city will have to choose between staying for four hours or six.

The standard four-hour price is set to go up from £5.20 to £5.50 under the new proposals.

But the new rate for going over four hours and parking for up to six hours will be £8.50 – an increase of £5.50 or 183 per cent.

Whereas the old ‘shoppers’ rate of £3 for five hours worked out at 1p per minute, the equivalent rate for five hours in future would be 2.8p per minute.

If you stay for four hour and 15 minutes but pay £8.50 to go a quarter of an hour over the four-hour band, the effective rate would be 3.3p per minute.

Spending £8.50 to stay for the full six hours would reduce the rate to almost 2.4p per minute.

But even that would be higher on a pence per minute basis than it costs to stay for one hour (1.25p), two hours (2.5p), three hours (2.2p) and four hours (2.3p).

The top deck of Snow Hill car park overlooks BT Tower
The top deck of Snow Hill car park overlooks BT Tower

The proposals come after the Mail revealed earlier this week that on-street parking in the inner zone on Sundays – including Colmore Row, Livery Street and neighbouring streets in the financial district – was set to increase 140 per cent from £2.50 for two hours to £6 from April Fool’s Day.

From April 1, daily on-street parking charges would be kept at the same current rate of £6 for two hours seven days per week from 8am-6pm, with rises planned for the 6pm-7.30pm band.

At £6 for two hours, the on-street parking rate is equivalent to 5p per minute.

Prices at three major private car parks are even higher

Grand Central car parking rates, 2017
Grand Central car parking rates, 2017

The Bullring charges £10 to park for four to six hours, Grand Central is £10 for four hours or £12.50 for five hours, while the Q Park in Brindleyplace charges £8.40 for four hours and £12.50 for five hours.

What rival councillors say

Speaking from the Mipim property conference in France earlier this week, city council leader John Clancy (Lab, Quinton) said: “We’ve had to take a £600 million spend out of the city in the last six years.

“Regretfully we do have to look at many ways of raising revenue.

“We are cutting services in relation to all sorts of things.

“We think this is an option and are consulting on this at the moment.”

Click on the link below to hear Coun Clancy being interviewed by BBC WM's Adrian Goldberg who was following up the Mail's exclusive story about the council's proposed price rises for parking, including on-street inner city parking charges going up from £2.50 for two hours on Sundays to £6 in line with the rest of the business week.

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Erdington councillor and Tory group leader Robert Alden told the Mail he had insisted the proposals should go "before scrutiny" in a bid to stop them from being implemented.

Coun Alden said: “We want to try to overturn the proposals.

Tory leader Coun Robert Alden
Tory leader Coun Robert Alden

“The Sunday plan is exorbitant when the city centre has to compete with out of town places where parking is free.

“We also want to support local high streets by getting rid of parking charges in the suburbs.

“In some spaces the council want to make people pay for two hours even if they want to stop for less than hour.”

On the Stratford Road in Shirley, shoppers can 'free and display' for a limited period, or pay to stay longer.

To see what local businessmen think of the latest Birmingham price increases, click on this link.

Planned Snow Hill Car Park charges

Proposed Snow Hill Car Park charges from April 1, 2017
Proposed Snow Hill Car Park charges from April 1, 2017

In Snow Hill car park on Livery Street close to Colmore Row at the heart of the Colmore Business District, the council has proposed to remove the discounted ‘shoppers’ rate of £3 for five hours after 9.30am on Saturdays.

On Sundays, it is 'proposed to remove the discounted Sunday rate of £3.50 all day until midnight.'

The proposed daily charges for Snow Hill will go up from £1.40 to £1.50 for one hour, from £2.70 to £3 for two hours (half the cost of on-street parking nearby) and from £3.90 to £4 for three hours.

The top deck of Snow Hill Car Park
The top deck of Snow Hill Car Park

Parking for four hours will rise from £5.20 to £5.50 and for six hours from £8 to £8.50.

The 24-hour rate will increase from £11.60 to £12.

Annual season tickets will rise from £2,650 to £2,750 (Monday to Friday, 7am to 11.30pm) or be unchanged at £3,325 (with reserved parking, valid all day every day).

View from Snow Hill Car Park over the platforms of Snow Hill Station
View from Snow Hill Car Park over the platforms of Snow Hill Station

The annual charge for the ‘exclusive use area’ will be unchanged at £3,450, while the annual charge to park a motorcycle at Snow Hill will also be unchanged at £580.

Planned Town Hall Car Park charges

The Saturday shoppers' rate was abolished in this car park in April, 2016 when a spokesman said: “We need to try to control demand across our car parks.

Town Hall Car Park pay machine, with a notice of increases (left) next to current prices, right
Town Hall Car Park pay machine, with a notice of increases (left) next to current prices, right

“There is currently very high demand at the Town Hall and Navigation Street car parks which will no longer have the ‘shoppers’ rate.

“It is important to point out that rates across our city centre car parks still compare favourably with nearby private alternatives.”

The cost of parking will be the same as Snow Hill.

Level 2 pay station at the Town Hall Car Park
Level 2 pay station at the Town Hall Car Park

This means that for one hour, the cost will rise from £1.40 to £1.50, for two hours from £2.70 to £3, for three hours from £3.90 to £4 and for four hours from £5.20 to £5.50.

The six hour rate will go up from £8 to £8.50 and parking for up to 24 hours from £11.60 to £12.

It is proposed to retain the discounted evening rate of £3.50 from 6pm until midnight, but to remove the discounted Sunday rate of £3.50 for all day until midnight.

A Brunel Street parking meter next to the Town Hall Car Park (The Cage)
A Brunel Street parking meter next to the Town Hall Car Park (The Cage)

An annual season ticket for the Town Hall Car Park will rise from £2,400 to £2,500 (7am-7pm) and from £2,650 to £2,700 for 7am to 11.30pm.

Parking on neighbouring Brunel Street will see the current £2.50 for two hours Sunday rate being abolished, rising to the £6 for two hours inner city rate that is already being charged from Monday to Saturday.

Planned Navigation Street Car Park charges

The proposed new charges for Navigation Street (below the A38 flyover next door to the Town Hall Car Park) will see the one-hour rate increase from £1.60 to £1.70; two hours from £2.80 to £3; three hours – frozen at £4.20; four hours, up from £5.50 to £6 and, for up to six hours, from £8.60 to £9.

It is proposed to remove the discounted Sunday rate of £3.50 for six hours.