The introduction of evening and Sunday car parking charges in Yeovil has been branded an attack on the town centre.

Businesses fear the plans by South Somerset District Council will discourage people from going into the town.

The council wants to increase parking costs across the district and impose evening and Sunday charges at eight of its Yeovil car parks from April. At the moment drivers can park for free after 6pm but if implemented, a payment would be required up until 10pm.

Jason Livingstone, vice-president of Yeovil Chamber of Trade and Commerce, said Yeovil was being unfairly targeted.

He said: “The business community is aghast. Higher charging puts off visitors – this fact has been voiced many times, including by direct interviews with shoppers.

“We are concerned Yeovil is disadvantaged by our car park charging in comparison to other shopping towns. We feel it is an un-level playing field.

“The night-time economy is important; it enjoys no parking charging at the moment and is under enormous pressure.”

He said the chamber had submitted its views to the council but felt that, so far, they had been ignored.

He added: “We keep lobbying to promote Yeovil as a shopping destination but sometimes we feel the lack of business acumen within local government makes a ‘meeting of minds’ very difficult to achieve. One has to ask, are they on our side?”

The changes look set to be one of the costs of the district council freezing council tax bills for the second year running.

The new evening and Sunday charges in Petters Way, Court Ash, Box factory, North Lane, Peter Street, South Street Market, South Street and Stars Lane would net the council an extra £73,600 a year.

The general increases across the district – which range from an extra 10p per hour to an additional 60p for all-day parking – are expected to generate an extra £192,900.

The proposals will be discussed further by the council later this month.

Garth Bedford, owner of Mulberry’s restaurant in Union Street, said the charges would impact on customers.

He said: “People come to us in the evenings and they do not expect to have to pay for parking on top of their meal.

“I think the charges will affect all the eateries and entertainment venues in a bad way.

“The timing of this is impeccably bad. It is like receiving another kicking while you are down.”

David Mills, Quedam Shopping Centre manager, said there were no plans to raise charges at the Quedam car park or introduce Sunday fees.

He said: “It is a difficult balancing act for the local authority but it is not going to help encourage shoppers into the town centre on a Sunday.”

A district council spokesman said: “We have carried out an assessment and do not think that there will be a impact in the mid to long term. We are expecting an initial drop in numbers but expect this to pick up fairly quickly.

“We believe that this will not discourage those who are already coming into Yeovil to spend a considerable amount of money on a meal or a theatre ticket.

“There are a significant number of car parks that we manage that will remain free in the evenings.”

Freezing the council tax would result in the average household – those living in Band D properties – paying £150.74 towards the work of the authority in 2012/2013.

The council is facing another £1 million cut in funding from the Government with its annual grant down to £6.8m from around £9.2m two years ago.

But by refusing to raise its charge on its residents, the council will receive around £230,000 from the Government as part of an incentive to ease the burden on the taxpayer.

The council has also proposed cutting job posts and service budgets.

The cuts would include a reduction of £10,000 in councillors’ training budget and a further £10,000 from the budget for investigations by the council’s Standards Committee.

The axing of job posts and a reduction in staff working hours have already largely been carried out.