A FIERCE political row is set to erupt in Winchester over the council tax, the cost of parking and councillors' allowances.

The Tories are proposing to cut the rise in council tax - to be paid for by slashing payments to councillors and increasing parking charges.

They claim there is no need for the tax to be raised by five per cent as proposed by the ruling Liberal Democrats.

The above-inflation rise is set to be agreed by a full meeting of the city council tomorrow evening. With the Lib Dems holding an overall majority of only one, it is set to be a close-run vote.

The Liberal Democrats today criticised the Tory plan. Councillor Kelsie Learney said: "I was staggered. They say they want to help the poorer part of the community but putting up parking is a stealth tax on people who need to use their car."

The Tories said savings could be made by cutting £50,000 from councillors' allowances, which they say are the most generous in the county. Another £10,000 would be saved by reducing the number of meetings. More controversially, a hefty £600,000 could be raked in by increasing parking charges for the first time in several years.

Meanwhile the Labour group will attempt to save the three jobs at Winchester archaeology unit, which are threatened by cuts.

Councillor George Hollingbery, Tory deputy group leader, said: "We say you can't stick your head in the sand and rely on using up the reserves. We think these increases in parking are quite reasonable. I recognise it is not the most popular thing to put up parking charges but otherwise council taxes will have to rise sharply over the next few years to cover a funding shortfall."

The Tories said they did not want to penalise short-stay shoppers in car parks such as Friarsgate.

The first hour will be unchanged at 60p, increasing to £1.40 for two hours.

Long-stay car parks will rise by 10p an hour overall. The cost of all-day parking at St Peters would therefore rise from £4.80 to £5.60, a 16 per cent rise.

The Tory idea stands a chance of success depending on which councillors turn up for the meeting. The Lib Dems now only have a majority of one so if the Independents and Labour support the proposal it could succeed.

The Lib Dem recommendation is for council tax of £104.40 for a Band D house. The Tory amendment would cut it to £101.94.

Patrick Davies, Labour leader, said the Conservative idea had merit. "We want to press for the restoration of the archaeology unit. If that can be incorporated in the Tory package we will support it."

Councillor Georgina Busher, Independent, said today: "The Tories have come up with some debatable points. The devil is in the detail. It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow."