CHARGES are being cut in a Carlisle car park as part of efforts to get people to stay in the city for longer.

The city council is introducing a slight reduction on rates at the Upper Viaduct car park in the city centre.

The move comes after officials noticed a marked increase in the number of people using the car park in the wake of December’s devastating floods, which took the payment machines out of action.

From tomorrow, it will become 20p cheaper to park for three to four hours, 40p less for four to six hours and 50p cheaper for up to nine-and-half hours. Those prices will be £2.60, £3 and £3.50 respectively.

More reductions at council-owed car parks are due to come into play from April.

Some drivers have said they started using Upper Viaduct again while pay and display machines were out of action and have continued using it since the machines returned to full working order – a fact that’s not been lost on council officials who are keen not to see numbers drop off again.

A council spokeswoman said: “The occupancy of Upper Viaduct car park has increased to the point that the car park is almost at full capacity every day.

“The use of the car park has been steadily declining for a number of years so to encourage customers to continue using the car park we’ve discounted our parking charges.”

Money from car parking fees could become increasingly important for the council as it seeks to strengthen its incomes as it comes under continued pressure from cost cuts on the back of reduced Government support.

Deputy leader Elsie Martlew said: “By parking in city council car parks, drivers can park longer for less.

“We want to encourage drivers to use our car parks as revenues are ploughed back in to supporting essential council services.”