DRIVERS will pay increased charges to use car parks as councillors seek a 'reasonable' way to raise money for a massive overspend in Social Services.

Councillors agreed the introduction of new charges at some car parks and the closure of others earlier this month in an effort to more than double income from off-street parking. In 2001, the net income was £364,050 but the target is to increase that by £390,000.

The new standard charge will be 50p per hour in most car parks but there will be exceptions. Car parks associated with leisure centres will charge 30p per hour. Car parks that are currently free will charge 30p but that will increase to 50p after one year. Car parks in central Ealing and Acton will increase their charges to £1 per hour after three hours to deter commuter parking.

The Social Services department is facing a projected £6.5m overspend and the council has faced fierce opposition from service-users and the public as it strived to find savings by cutting nurseries and day centres for the disabled.

Labour Group political adviser Keith Fraser said: "The idea here is obviously to raise money. If there is a surplus then it's up to the appropriate departments to decide what to spend it on. It's safe to say the council will use raised cash for whatever its highest priorities are and yes, the Social Services department qualifies as a high priority."

He continued: "Obviously, nobody wants to see cuts in services but equally, we must work to keep Council Tax as low as possible or we'll get jumped on. We are therefore looking for reasonable ways of raising money. The charges and operation of the council's car parks have not been changed for some years yet we invested £600,000 in refurbishment of nine of our car parks last year."

As well as the new charges, which could come into operation as soon as April, councillors approved closing down the multi-storey car park in Singapore Road, West Ealing and another in Norwood Road, Southall.