HUNDREDS of residents and businesses are renting out their driveways online to motorists keen to avoid high parking prices.

Website yourparkingspace.co.uk has 743 such spaces listed in Bournemouth alone.

It says the average daily price on its site is £6.36, an average saving of 21 per cent compared with commercial car parks, and an edge on on public car parks.

On August bank holiday Monday, visitors looking to park from 9am-6pm for a day at the seaside could pay just £3.75 if they booked a space 12 minutes’ walk away in Durley Chine Road South.

A space at the Hallmark Hotel Bournemouth East Cliff costs the same amount, while nine hours at Bayview Mews, eight minutes from the beach, goes for £6.25.

A space at Bournemouth council’s Bath Road South for the same period would cost £18. The same stay in NCP’s Exeter Crescent car park, behind BH2, would cost an eye-watering £25.

Cllr Mike Greene, Bournemouth council’s cabinet member for transport, said of the charges: “We try to get the right balance between encouraging people to come to the centre of town and other village centres and making sure that the council tax payer gets good value from its asset.

“The fact that although we had a relatively modest increase in parking charges it doesn’t seem to have affected occupancy at all, suggests we’ve probably got it about right.”

He welcomed the alternative offered by YourParkingSpace.co.uk. “Any competition offered to the customer is great,” he added.

Bournemouth council’s parking strategy has increasingly come under fire in recent months, in particular plans by its public/private partnership the Bournemouth Development Company to build on car parks around the borough.

A recent council scheme for the Durley Road car park was rejected by the planning board due to the impact of the loss of spaces.

Yesterday, board chairman David Kelsey said he welcomed the council’s Local Plan Review as a chance to take a fresh look at the borough’s parking strategy. “The whole topic of parking and related infrastructure will be up for discussion, I would like to see it reviewed,” he said.

Westbourne and West Cliff councillor Nick Rose has reiterated his concern with short-stay parking charges, which he said were “only to the detriment of our small businesses”. He defended long-term rates however, saying they “should stay as they are because it costs us a lot as a council to clean up after visitor”

Harrison Woods, managing director of YourParkingSpace.co.uk, said: “More and more homeowners across the UK are significantly boosting their household income by renting out their driveway to motorists needing somewhere to park. Demand will always be strong for driveways situated close to town and city centres, railway stations and transport hubs, sporting arenas and music venues.”

The company claims users in Bournemouth can expect an average income of £1,095 a year per space.

Residents of Sandbanks have been less keen to make their spaces available. The website’s nearest space to the sought-after peninsula is 46 minutes’ walk away.

Visitors to Mudeford’s Avon Beach could pay just £4.50 if they were prepared to walk 13 minutes from a space at Halifax Way, whereas 8-12 hours in the Avon Beach car park would cost £12.

YourParkingSpace.co.uk also offers monthly rentals suitable for commuters. A Poole town centre worker could pay as little as £62.50 by parking at Labrador Drive nine minutes away, or £56.25 at Sterte Road 10 minutes away. A Bournemouth resident could pay £65 a month at Chine Crescent Road, eight minutes from the town centre.