Ten years after Hambleton Council abandoned a previous attempt to charge for parking the issue is again on the agenda in Northallerton, Thirsk, Bedale and Stokesley.

The meeting tonight in Northallerton Town Hall at 7pm has been called by a campaign group opposed to the charges, which it claims is the council's attempt to plug a £450,000 hole in its finances.

Its leader, Northallerton businessman Marcus Grover said: "Our market towns have a tradition of independent shops that attract visitors from all over the north east.

"With the growing popularity of internet shopping and the out of town options that customers have, our communities cannot afford this ill-thought-out plan. We have little to offer our visitors but our shops. They are the centre of towns."

Mr Grover said the protest had been organised because Hambleton Council had not included a public meeting in its £63,000 consultation on charges.

The council opted for "key stakeholder" meetings and the campaign group claims there have been complaints that invitations did not arrive. In each town 120 members of the public were surveyed.

Mr Grover said: "Against this we have a petition that has topped 14,000 and counting. Hambleton is trying to plug a £450,000 hole in its budget with charges collected from only half the towns of the area.

"We believe this is in breach of the Local Government Act 2003, which does not allow profit from the provision of a service."

He claims consultants are using parking data which is seven years old.

The leader of Hambleton Council, Arthur Barker, said: "We have been consulting with our residents since February this year and we are still consulting.

"We are listening to what they have to say and we will be listening at the public meeting."

The group intends following tonight's meeting with a protest march planned for the day the council votes on the charges, Tuesday, June 24.