The cash-strapped local authority is carrying out a major review of how much it charges for services – and it could hit you in the pocket
Liverpool City Council is putting up the prices of a number of its services as it looks to close a £29m blackhole in its finances. Earlier this week the ECHO revealed the cost of parking in council car parks will rise by as much as 60% next year.
But it is not just parking where fees will rise. The local authority is looking to bring in hikes for a number of discretionary fees and charges in order to bring in millions more in revenue. Here we take a look at all the areas where fees will rise and how people may be hit in the pocket.
Car parking
We have already covered this one extensively, but probably the most eye-catching area of the fees rise is in council-owned car parks. Under the proposed plans, parking charges at multi-storey car parks – like those at Mount Pleasant or Victoria Street – will see an increase of 39.69%. This would raise the cost of parking for over three hours at Mount Pleasant Car Park from £5 to just under £7.
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Off-street car park charges are set to rise by 47.28%, meaning the cost of parking for over five hours at Dale Street surface car park, for example, will go up from £8 to £11.78.
The most significant planned increase is for on-street car parking, where charges will rise by an average of 60%. A four-hour stay in a city centre bay will increase from £6 to £9.60. If approved, these fee increases will be implemented from March 2025.
Sex shops
The ECHO has also reported the costs of opening and running a sex shop will increase as part of the new plans. A rise of almost 200% on the cost of a new sex shop licence is being proposed by the council as part of the major review of its fees and charges.
If adopted by cabinet when it meets next week, the bumper costs could be implemented as early as January 2025. The council’s own analysis said rises would be at an average of 142%.
Currently, the city charges £706 to grant a new licence and £304 to renew terms. According to authority analysis, this compares to an average core city new licence fee of £6,131 and average renewal fee of £3,445.
From next month, anyone wishing to open a new shop would have to fork out £2,000 – an increase of 183%. To renew an existing licence would cost £600, almost double the current fee of £304.
The granting of a venue is also proposed to rise from £202 to £500, an increase of 147%. However the costs are not expected to bring in mega bucks for Liverpool as the council’s own documents outlined.
Scaffolding/hoarding
Anyone looking to place scaffold or hoardings within the Liverpool local authority area requires a licence to do so and this costs money. Currently a non-refundable administration fee of £50 applies for such a licence.
There are then fees charged based on however long the scaffold or hoardings will remain in place. If this is for a period of less than 7 days, the fee is £60, with the costs rising to £1810 for between 21 and 24 months.
Under the review, these fees will now rise by 30%. Council documents said: “The 30% increase is to better reflect the cost of administering the service and brings these fees and charges nearer to the core city average, with scope to further increase in future.”
Skips
If you live in Liverpool and you want to place a skip outside of your house on a public road, you need a licence, you must also be a registered skip operator with the council.
The council currently charges £20 for a skip permit but says this fee does not currently fully recover the cost of delivering this service, arguing that this is creating a burden on the city’s taxpayers, who are ultimately subsidising the skip service.
To remedy this, the council is planning to implement a 100% increase on these fees. Documents said: “Skip permits are currently offered at a significantly lower rate than other Core Cities, with an average of £40 per permit compared to the council’s £20.”
Street naming and numbering
When people submit planning applications that require changes to street names or property numbers, this comes at a cost. This could happen when a resident changes a single house into apartments, for example.
The current cost for a new street name or rename including number up to 20 properties is £620, whereas the cost of renumbering a house, flat or apartment is just £24.
These fees will now see a 30% increase. The council says this is a service that also isn’t currently fully recovering the cost of providing the service at present.
Temporary Traffic Regulation Orders (TTROs)
TTROs are required to stop or limit vehicle or pedestrian traffic on a road where work is planned or for immediate restrictions. This could be a road or public right of way closure. This is not a cheap business and currently costs between £2,200 and £2,750 depending on the reason for the order. The council now wants to raise the price of doing this by 10%.
HMO licences
For landlords who rent out properties with a certain number of people living in them, a Houses in Multiple Occupancy (HMO) licence is required. This includes properties with five or more unrelated people living there or two or more separate households.
Currently the cost of such a licence in Liverpool ranges from £1166 (for up to five units of accommodation) all the way up to £1696 for ten units of accommodation. These fees are set to rise by 10% in the council plan.
Why all the increases?
Speaking to the ECHO this week, Liverpool Council leader Liam Robinson explained why his administration are hiking so many fees for council services. He said: “I think it is important to put this in the wider context of the budget. While we are not in Section 114 territory, we do have significant overspends in areas like social services and homelessness and it is very important that we produce a balanced budget. We are looking to bring our fees and charges into line with other core cities because at the moment we charge a lot less than other big cities.”
