CAR parking charges in Hampshire city will not increase this year, council bosses say.

Cllr Jan Warwick, Winchester’s portfolio holder for neighbourhoods and the environment, said charges are normally reconsidered each year.

But she said the council’s “solid financial planning” meant there was no need for an increase.

Cllr Anne Weir urged the cabinet to do more to incentivise people to park outside the city centre.

“That is where the opportunity lies to persuade people to stay longer here and spend more money,” she said.

Cllr Warwick said: “If you look at Chesil, we have improved that to lift it and that’s a way we can get people to come into the city centre, and encourage them to go back out that way, without clogging up the one-way system.”