PARKING charges in Bournemouth are under review amid a government shake-up of council planning laws as part of a pledge to “end the war on the motorist”.

Whitehall chiefs are scrapping legislation instructing councils to set parking revenues to encourage other forms of transport.

And a clause in the same law requiring councils to seek the maximum amount of parking spaces for new residential developments will also be shelved.

Cllr Michael Filer, Bournemouth council’s cabinet member for environment and transport, said he supported an initiative from Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles MP.

He said: “Historically car parking has provided a huge proportion of the council’s income.

“It has gone up and up under councils of different persuasions. I personally feel that enough is enough and now is the time to do all we can to make reductions, but we have to bear in mind that if we reduce income from parking it has to come from somewhere else.”

But he stepped back from an assurance that parking prices would fall, saying that was something he “could not categorically say”.

“This is under review at the moment as we look at next year’s budget,” he said, adding that reduced charges in the Richmond Gardens car park on Saturday mornings had proved popular with town centre traders.

Nigel Hedges, president of the Bournemouth Chamber of Trade and Commerce, said that traders were already working closely with the council and had pre-empted Mr Pickles’ “excellent decision”.

“People are going to use cars. It’s a fact of life. You can’t stop them. Price is an invitation to buy. If the car parks are empty, the price is too high,” he said.

Angela Pooley, co-ordinator for the East Dorset branch of Friends of the Earth, said she feared removing a planning obligation for minimum parking spaces on new development would encourage car use.

She argued in favour of sustainable development where shops and centres of employment were within easy reach of dwellings, removing the need for car ownership.

What this means for Bournemouth

Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, has scrapped parts of Planning Policy Guidance 13, which obliges councils to use parking charges to encourage alternatives to the car.

He said: “The Government is calling off Whitehall's war on the motorist by scrapping the national policy restricting residential parking spaces and instructing councils to push up charges. We expect councils to follow suit.”

• Bournemouth council operates 43 car parks, and charges range from 50p to £1 an hour.

Off-street parking income in 2009-10 was £5.5million, while the cost of staffing and maintaining car parks was £2.5million.