IT is feared it will hit Southampton’s cultural life and drive away visitors.

Now a 2,330-signature petition has been handed in protesting at council plans to extend city centre parking charges into the evening.

As revealed by the Daily Echo earlier this year, the cash-strapped city council will extend charges to rake in up to £500,000 to spend on vital services.

The charges form part of the £16m of cuts the authority will make in 2013/14, and one of three schemes could be introduced in 90 city centre streets, 19 off-street council-run car parks and single yellow line roads later this year.

The options include extending daytime charges until 10.30pm in all pay-and-display areas and car parks, extending them in car parks until 10.30pm and pay-and-display areas until 8pm, and extending both car park and pay-and-display charges until 8pm.

The most likely option now appears to be the third option, with a flat fee introduced until 8pm in all areas.

Council transport chief Asa Thorpe has said the plans will also allow the council to catch up with private car park operators, and some charges in pay-and-display zones could go down as a result of a review of usage.

He also said the plans would be in-line with other city parking charge schemes across the south coast.

But theatres, restaurants, bars and clubs have attacked the plans, saying they will drive away visitors to the city centre and damage its vibrant cultural scene.

There are also concerns that staff working during the evenings will be hit and may have to park outside the city centre to avoid the charges.

That has led to fears that staff, and especially female workers, could be put at risk.

After the end of consultation on the scheme yesterday, The Mayflower theatre chief executive Michael Ockwell handed in a petition with 2,330 signatures on it calling on the council to scrap the price hike.

He said: “There is a groundswell of opinion that this will have a negative impact on the cultural life of Southampton, particularly at a time when you want businesses to be growing and flourishing. There is a potential barrier to people coming into the city and enjoying themselves.

“We’ve been inundated with support for the petition, which we have only put together in the past week.

“There are a lot of people who come and support our economy during the evenings, and this may chase many of them away.”

Cllr Thorpe said “lessons had been learned” from the consultation on the scheme and how it was carried out.

He said: “I think a lot of people were confused as to why there was no option to reject evening parking charges completely, but that was part of our budget setting consultation earlier in the year.

“At the moment the results aren’t in, but there is a strong indication that people are preferring a flat fee and indeed only charging until 8pm.

“I think there will be subtle nuances within that and we will be working with businesses in the city centre as the plans go forward.”

Opposition politicians have attacked the plans. Conservative transport spokesman Dan Fitzhenry said: “There was more money in the council’s budget than they first expected, so they don’t need to do it. It’s a really ill thought-out plan.”