IT appears new car parking charges are to be brought in to raise money for our cash-strapped town hall.

The borough's country parks, high streets and New Brighton sea front are being viewed as a means of raising revenue from people unfortunate enough to live within the blast area of Wirral Council.

The £1m generated by this wheeze - a bad idea that caused a public outcry and was dropped last time it was atempted - will be added to the pot the authority makes from increasing our council tax payments this year.

Does the council really view the people it "serves" as mere cash cows to be prodded in the pocket every time they face a financial challenge?

Does it never occur to them that they are not the only ones who are "cash-strapped" at this particular time?

Do they really believe Wirral residents have an endless supply of disposable income which time and again we will gladly hand over to this extravagant bureaucracy with no questions asked?

A town hall spokesman said: "If the council is to keep on providing the services which residents rely on, then we must look at increasing income where we can to partly offset the huge reductions in the funding we receive from central government."

Once again, as with their determination to defy the Government and keep on publishing their own newspaper - despite being warned this will lead to costly court action - they seem to have a peculiar grasp of the rules.

Pay and display charges are not meant to "generate income" - they should be used to control parking only where it is necessary.

But it seems "the rules" don't count for much these days.