Evening charges are to be introduced in car parks across East Devon.

East Devon District Council's Car Parking Task and Finish Forum this week backed plans to introduce an evening parking charge – initially a flat rate of just £1 – to make a proportionate contribution to management, enforcement and wear and tear costs associated with the car parks.

Andrew Ennis, service lead for car parks, said that the short stay car parking tariff currently allows members of the public to park free of charge between 8pm and 6am, but they knew the evening period was sometimes busy.

He said that there were historical reasons why the council didn't make evening charges, and that any new charges would have to be modest so that the council doesn't "look greedy" or drive people into parking for free in residents streets.

He added: "The nominal charge would cover the upkeep. £1 won't be disproportionate to the benefits, but there is always the risk it is seen as a tax on businesses."

Car parks which will be affected by the new evening charge are the Lace Walk short stay car park in Honiton, West Street short stay car park in Axminster, Orchard car park in Seaton, Central car park in Beer, Mill Street, the Ham East and West and the Roxburgh car park in Sidmouth, Rolle Mews car park in Budleigh Salterton and the London Inn car park, Imperial Road car park and Exmouth Pavilion car park in Exmouth.

The forum also agreed to introduce Sunday charges to car parks in Axminster, Ottery St Mary and Honiton.

However, they voted against making any immediate decisions over the future of several 'loss making' car parks in the district, whereby they either generate no income or less than their costs.

They called for the full details on costs for each of the 15 car parks to be brought back to them at a future meeting so they could examine each car park on its own merits before deciding whether to introduce car parking charges, or offer the management of the facilities to parish councils if they wished to keep the car parks free.