Despite requests by councillors for Cornwall Council to 'call-in' and reverse its controversial decision to increase car parking prices, there will be no U-turn.

Councillors said yesterday (Tuesday, June 13) that the "ridiculous and ill-conceived" decision to increase tariffs at 135 car parks should have been made by voting councillors and not been decided by an officer with delegated powers.

Earlier this year it was announced that the council was introducing new parking zones with increased charges according to how busy the area is. This meant that some tariffs would rise to £2.20 per hour and free evening parking would be scrapped in some places. Following a public consultation, several car parks were moved to a different zone and charges will no longer be introduced between November 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, in car parks that have previously been free during the winter. Free evening parking in Cornwall's busiest Zone A car parks, which was due to be increased to £2.50, was reduced to £2.

However, the changes – which came into effect at the end of May – were still greeted with anger by many business leaders, residents and councillors who feared the rise in charges would have a devastating impact on the night-time economy of many towns, and lead to less footfall in town centres at all hours of the day.

Led by Looe councillor Armand Toms, ten members of Cornwall Council asked for the matter to be called in on a number of grounds, including a lack of adequate consultation, a lack of evidence to justify the price hike and the impact it would have on residents. The call-in was refused by the council's monitoring officer Henry Gordon Lennox on various procedural grounds including the Cabinet's decision on the parking tariffs in February being "an appropriate opportunity to call in the principle of the new tariff proposals but this was not taken".

Members of the council's economic growth scrutiny committee were told at a meeting at Lys Kernow / New County Hall in Truro today that they could only note the call-in decision and not discuss it or make recommendations. However, that did not stop some councillors making their feelings known.

Cllr John Conway (Conservative, Launceston South) said: "This was a decision taken by officers. I believe that car parking charges should be set by members – we are the ones voted in, we are the ones that have to carry the flak." Cllr Conway wanted to make a proposal that the matter was referred to the council's constitution and governance committee to ensure that car parking charges are set by councillors and not officers in future. Policy meant that wasn't possible.

"We all know the flak that went on. Armand Toms was quite right – there are so many anomalies in this that it should be looked into," he added.

Cllr Peter La Broy (Independent, Bude) said: "How have we come to this point where the portfolio holder in Cabinet says the decision has been made in order to fill a financial black hole? There is so much conflict – this is a decision we have got to roll back on."

"This was a ridiculous and ill-conceived parking review which completely contradicts our high street vitality policies and arguably may make carbon issues worse with people driving to out of town shopping centres or driving around back streets looking for free parking," added Cllr Tim Dwelly (Independent, Penzance East). "The call-in has been refused on the grounds of process. How long do we have before this system can be reviewed?" He said he would like the committee to have the opportunity to reconsider the decision based on the results of data around the new charges.

Cllr Leigh Frost (Liberal Democrats, Bodmin St Petroc's) said he had supported the streamlining of parking tariffs but was critical of the consultation process. "Things were being changed constantly so it became very messy very quickly. It all got very confusing and rushed. The correct thing would have been to take a long look at it and bring the new charges in for the next year perhaps.

"I don't know how the consultation response was from businesses. I don't know the outcome of meeting with Cornwall Chamber of Commerce. Was it massively against and the council pushed ahead regardless? There is a happy medium to be found but I don't think we bothered to look for it."

Service director Phil Mason suggested the committee scrutinises the data surrounding the new charges and uses that in any future decision-making.