PARKING fees at a flagship market and arts centre in Wrexham look set to be increased in a bid to raise extra money.

Under new proposals, motorists will face a charge of £2 for staying in the Tŷ Pawb car park for between one and three hours resulting in a rise of 20p.

Meanwhile, a 50p hike has been outlined for all day parking, meaning visitors will now pay £3.

Wrexham Council has recently approved plans to introduce a free after 2pm initiative in the majority of its car parks from April.

Although the former People’s Market multi-storey has been excluded from the scheme, a senior councillor insisted the uplift in charges would not put visitors off.

Cllr Hugh Jones said the additional income would be used to support the running of the facility, which opened in April 2018 following a £4.5m investment.

The Conservative group leader, who sits on the local authority’s ruling executive board, said: “Tŷ Pawb is a key element of the life of the centre of Wrexham and it’s reinvigorated that part of town.

“It’s also a commercial project and we have to maximise the potential for income.

“We’ve invested in the car park in the provision of electric charging points, new entry and exit equipment and we’ve maintained a very high occupancy rate.

“That occupancy rate has remained high during a period when we have had free after 3pm and other such offers.

“We’ve gone through it in some detail and we believe we’re able to apply these modest increases in parking charges in order to maintain and support the income that allows us to improve the overall access to and from Tŷ Pawb.”

The car park is currently said to be achieving above the council’s desired occupancy rate of 85 per cent.

It comes despite the arts centre facing a number of challenges since opening, including an audit report which identified ‘serious weaknesses’ in financial procedures.

Meanwhile, traders also criticised the way it was being run after becoming embroiled in a contract dispute.

But Cllr Jones said he believed it had delivered a positive impact on the town.

He added: “We think it’s a fantastic jewel in our crown.

“You have some really high quality international standard art exhibitions and we had the programme of children’s play in art.

“The impact that had on the local community was absolutely amazing.”

The parking charge increases will be discussed at a meeting being held on Tuesday, January 28.