ANDOVER’S UKIP county councillors Tim Rolt and Tony Hooke have used the Freedom of Information Act to cost some of their proposals for town centre car parking, which they claim will boost trade and confidence.

They wanted to know the cost of providing 30 minutes’ free parking at George Yard car park and also find out from Test Valley Borough Council how much money could be saved by trimming top council officers’ salaries and cutting councillors’ allowances.

Their suggestion is that no council official would earn more than £69,000 a year and that councillors’ allowances should fall from more than £6,000 to just £3,000.

This would save Test Valley Borough Council more than £270,000, says senior council corporate director Andrew Ferrier, who responded to the Freedom of Information request.

Slicing top salaries would save £115,717 while cutting councillors’ allowances would yield £159,024. Providing free parking would be slightly dearer, at £280,000, said Mr Ferrier.

In his response he said: “In addition to the loss of the 30- minute parking income from George Yard, our car parking team consider that it would be reasonable to anticipate all of the income related to the 45- minute and 25 per cent of the one-hour income would be lost as people adjust their shopping habits. There would also be a reduction in 30-minute parking in other car parks as drivers relocate to George Yard but this has not been included in the calculation.

“In Andover the estimated resultant loss of car parking income is in the region of £185,000. However, a similar offer would have to be made in Romsey, resulting in an overall estimated loss of £280,000.”