A last-minute plan for Warwick District Council to give up £1.5 million in revenue to offer free town centre parking was dismissed as a "rather sad" ploy – but it did unlock a little funding.

The Conservative group tabled an amendment to the Green-Labour budget proposals, suggesting all district car parks should offer two hours of free parking for the financial year 2025-26 to boost high street footfall.

Based on 2024 data, that would have cost the council £1.582 million which would have required delving into savings – specifically the general fund volatility reserve – to balance the books. 

That fund is one of those in place to ensure the council can withstand financial shocks and the parking plan would have taken up more than half of it, leaving a little more than £1 million in the kitty. 

It was rejected by councillors representing all other parties, attracting some scathing remarks from one of the authority's longest-serving members Cllr Bill Gifford.

He said that when in power, the Conservative group had always advocated lower council tax, making the case that the district "should be more reliant on charging people for the services they use, and used the example of car parks", adding that the Tory-run county council had included no such measures related to on-street parking when setting its budget earlier this month.

"Businesses do need help, they do need increased footfall, but they don't need to be used as a plaything to be put on a leaflet," Cllr Gifford concluded.

"It isn't fair on businesses and I think it is rather unfortunate and rather sad to see this being used in this way." 

Portfolio holder for resources Cllr Jonathan Chilvers said: "Good diagnosis, wrong solution, particularly at that cost.

"If this was a serious proposal, I would have liked it to come through the fees and charges conversation in the autumn. I've already set out that the general volatility reserve is there to balance the budget and keep us afloat. 

"We are going to look at the parking strategy but I do want to thank the Conservative group for spotlighting this. We do want more footfall in all four of our town centres, and to look at ways to best support them, but by following the evidence."

Proposer Cllr Richard Hales defended himself.

"I would think councillors probably know me well enough to say this isn't just something to stick on leaflets," he replied.

"This is a significant issue facing our businesses and something that we need to do. As a council we need to be responsible to businesses and residents, we have to ensure our business environment because without that, there will be less money from business rates.

"While I appreciate this (vote) will most probably be lost, what I hope it does do is highlight the importance of addressing this issue.

"This is something we need to act on now, otherwise we really risk the demise of our town centre businesses. We may look (back at this) in five years and think about what could have been." 

It was lost but the Green-Labour administration later came back with £95,000 worth of funding to be spent on events to support town centre footfall. 

Other suggested tweaks to the budget plans were voted down, including a Liberal Democrat amendment to allocate £150,000 to refurbish Castle Farm skate park in Kenilworth, although those in charge did agree to bring forward a business case and "investigate funding options".

A Conservative request for £130,000 to renovate Baginton Village Hall was declined but the district did offer up £12,500 to help restore a support service for sexual abuse survivors through Warwick-based charity Safeline.

It was said that the £25,000-per-year contract had been cut by Warwickshire County Council with the district set to find out whether that could be revisited or if it could match the district's offer to pay half to maintain the service.

Council tax bills were also set at the meeting with the district's portion going up by £5.45 per year for an average – Band D – property, taking the total to £187.60.