CHURCHES and businesses have joined together to call for the new parking charges in York to be scrapped.

A petition has been launched asking City of York Council to reconsider the charges imposed in the Micklegate area of York.

Parking in Micklegate used to be free for an hour, but now motorists must pay £1.40 an hour.

Businesses in the area have said the charges are damaging custom and could kill trade in the area.

The Rev Graham Maskery, the minister at St Columba's United Reformed Church in Priory Street, said the parking charges were affecting not only the traders in the area but also the churches.

He said the high costs were affecting people coming to services, groups and funerals at his church.

"People are not prepared to pay £1.40 an hour to park there," he said.

"The council has to decide whether it wants a vibrant city centre, where people can come to trade and get involved in activities, or whether it wants a dead city centre that almost becomes a no-go area."

Churches Together in South West York, a union of nine churches in the area, are all circulating the petition along with businesses in Micklegate.

The group hope to present it to the council in September.

Mr Maskery said they believed the parking charges were "a knee-jerk reaction to raise money".

He said: "A lot of the activities that take place in churches and community groups are being affected as well as the livelihoods of the traders."

Updated: 09:24 Saturday, June 05, 2004