ENDING free parking passes at district and borough council owned sites across West Dorset, Weymouth and Portland has had only a minimal impact – councillors have been told.

More than 20 annual passes were given free to mayors, the Citizens Advice Bureau, a garden volunteer, police and others.

In addition free car parking was also offered to events including the Bridport Carnival funfair, West Bay raft race, the Coast to Coast cycle challenge and various charity collections and car boot sales.

West Dorset’s overview and scrutiny committee was told that the cost of giving the concession had increased over the years, subsidising some organisations, but not others, at a cost to the council taxpayer.

“The car park concessions were previously granted on a historic precedent basis or if the manager deemed it to be worthy. This is not a fair clear transparent method and open to abuse. The decision to end free permits for volunteers and charitable organisations and events has removed any ambiguity,” said a report to councillors this week.

”A number of the organisations who had previously been given free parking for their events have accepted that there is a charge for the use of the car parks. By charging for the amount of space used the organisations have been more conservative in their requests – only asking for what they actually need rather than whole areas because they are free.”

Dorchester Cllr Molly Rennie said that the changes had, overall, been beneficial, with some free parking days still allowed for this year only in district council car parks in Dorchester, including the town’s carnival day and Christmas Cracker.

Said committee chairman Daryl Turner: “The decision has been made. We asked for a report on the impact, and it seems there has been very little impact.”

He said that financially the decision to end the concessions made little difference, but parking policy was now more open.

But Bridport Cllr David Rickard challenged the suggestion that there was little difference: “We have collected no evidence whatsoever whether or not charities are having more trouble recruiting volunteers as a result of our policy,” he said.

The committee was told that various organisations were now paying for the concessions they previously had – including £128 for the use of two spaces for two days in Lyme Regis for the recent fossil festival; £16 for the RNLI for the raft race at West Bay and £50 for the vintage bus rally at Dorchester.