A YORK business leader has called for a "summit meeting" to discuss controversial new parking charges.

Len Cruddas, chief executive of the York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, said: "It would be a good idea for the council and businesses affected to get together and talk.

"As a chamber, we would be happy to facilitate this meeting."

Mr Cruddas made his offer following a chamber business lunch, when members levelled question after question about parking charges at Martin Revill, the council's head of transport and planning, who was there to discuss the city's new five- year Local Transport Plan.

Mr Revill and transport executive member Coun Ann Reid said the charges would be reviewed.

But Anthony Worrall, general manager of the Hilton Hotel, in Tower Street, told the gathering: "This is the biggest issue we have as a business. It is not just small businesses who are affected."

Coun Reid said new evening charges had had little effect on the numbers of vehicles parking.

She said: "Before the changes came in, our officers' surveys showed that between 700 and 800 cars parked in the city centre in the evenings. Since the changes, more have used the car parks, displaced from street parking. In the last week in April, 780 vehicles were in the city centre car parks.

"There doesn't appear to be a drop in numbers of people parking in the city. There isn't the doom and gloom that the Evening Press has been saying."

Updated: 10:29 Friday, June 04, 2004