DRIVERS in Worcester could be stung with 3,000 extra parking tickets each year if the city council decides to take over the reins from the police.

The authority's executive committee is looking at plans to decriminalise parking in the city - meaning tickets could soon be doled out and prices set by the council rather than West Mercia.

At the moment, around 5,000 parking tickets are given out in council-run car parks. The police hand out another 11,000 on the streets.

But under new plans, traffic wardens employed by the council would issue about 19,000 tickets while parking meters were introduced on the streets.

These charges could range from 40p to 80p per hour. Residents' parking permits will cost £10 a year while fines would stay at £30, £60 and £90.

In a presentation to the development services policy and review committee, Norman Downie from RTA Associates said the changeover could happen within 18 months.

But he warned the £285,000 needed to set up the scheme would mean the authority was unlikely to be back in the black for four years.

"It won't be quick," he said.

"And it won't be a major source of income.

"But for the first time you'll be able to decide where vehicles can park and implement it, you'll be able to re-evaluate residents' parking schemes and you'll be able to regulate where delivery lorries will be able to unload."

He also claimed it would improve safety and the environment and encourage drivers to leave their vehicles in proper car parks, rather than on the streets.

"It'll also allow you to keep the revenue for local use," he said.

"Although any surplus would be ring-fenced and could only be used for transportation issues."

Acting Inspector Rod Reynolds, of Worcester police, welcomed the plans.

"Parking and traffic management isn't a high priority for the police, and that's the reality," he said.

"The increasing demands on us are such that we must prioritise crime and disorder.

"We've got five traffic wardens for Worcester and we've got to manage sickness and absence. "

Councillor Colin Bruton billed the plans as "an extra tax on motorists".

And Coun Robert Rowden warned the scheme might force shoppers out of Worcester.

But Coun Jo Hodges hit back.

"We've got here a real alternative," she said.

"It's a way that we can take control of the on-street parking."