FEWER people have been parking in City of York Council's long-stay car parks - and even these have been leaving their vehicles for shorter periods, a report has revealed.

The declining use of car parks has led to a £142,000 shortfall in the authority's budget.

And another £108,000 is thought to have been lost through the opening of a temporary private car park in Dundas Street, off Stonebow.

The report to next week's executive meeting reveals smaller overspends in other departments, including the chief executive's, with a little more than £100,000, and the total overspend is projected to come to under £500,000.

Councillors are told that to reach a balanced position by the end of the financial year, further action will be necessary.

Any overspend would have to be funded from reserves.

A different report to the executive reveals that there has been a steady decline in the use of city centre car parks over the last few years, but that this has been more than compensated for by an increase in the use of Park&Ride.

The number of bus passenger journeys has increased by 25 per cent in the past four years.

Updated: 10:02 Friday, September 24, 2004