As Stoke-on-Trent City Council scrambles to find £13 million worth of savings in three years, city council reporter Iain Robinson looks at who will be footing the billJUST a few weeks ago, Stoke-on-Trent City Council's finance chiefs unveiled what appeared to be the budget to regenerate the city.

They said the hard political lessons of last year's misguided budget cuts, such as shutting the popular splash pool at Dimensions Leisure Centre, had been learned and would not be repeated.

And they gave assurances that any red figures on the balance sheets would be sorted out without causing any major problems for taxpayers or service users.

But it has now emerged that the community services directorate, which is responsible for providing key frontline services, must find an extra £4.4 million a year for the next three years to balance its budget.

Finance officers have steered clear of any obviously emotive cuts, leaving leisure centres, libraries, community centres and urban farms unscathed.

In fact, the same Dimensions Leisure Centre which looked set to lose its pool last year is now due to receive a significant capital investment to boost visitor numbers.

But the 22 savings proposals show the council is not afraid of pushing up fees, fines and charges to generate income.

Parking charges are set to rise by between eight and 45 per cent, depending on the location, to glean an estimated £500,000 a year.

A report to the improving communities overview and scrutiny committee said: "It is proposed that fees across all car parks are reviewed and increased by 10p per hour.

"It is also proposed that within the city centre, a daytime hourly fee of £1.30 is introduced on all car parks inside the Potteries Way, and an hourly fee of £1 on all car parks (in Hanley) outside the Potteries Way.

"This fee will rationalise the existing charging structure within the city centre, promote the use of car parks on the outskirts of Hanley as opposed to parking in the central business district, and has the potential to generate significant additional income of up to £500,000 a year."

The authority also wants wardens to issue more fines for civil offences such as dog fouling and littering to generate an extra £200,000.

And residents trying to dispose responsibly of bulky waste items such as large appliances face a hike in collection fees.

Instead of paying £10 for 10 items, they would have to pay £55 under the new proposals – £10 for the first item and £5 each for the other nine – a jump of 550 per cent. Officers are confident the change will bring in an extra £120,000 a year.

But critics fear the authority could end up spending more than that dealing with a surge in fly-tipping.

Scrutiny committee chairman councillor Dave Conway said: "I'm not sure it's the right time to be putting up parking charges in the city, when businesses are struggling.

"And the idea of charging people 550 per cent more to get rid of 10 large items of rubbish is just ludicrous. We will have a situation where cowboys in lorries go around offering to pick up this rubbish for a tenner, and then we will be left with the bill to clean it up again when they go and fly-tip it.

"We are also predicting a big increase in income from recycling, but I understand that the bottom has fallen out of the market for recycled material."

Councillor Kieran Clarke, the council's portfolio holder for resources, stressed that the proposed savings had not been finalised.

He said: "The charges will be discussed by scrutiny councillors as part of the wider council budget proposals before being put before all councillors next month."