THE leader of the city council has insisted its fees and charges are not being "hiked up" later this year.

Referring to the front page of the Worcester News on January 9, Councillor Marc Bayliss, leader of Worcester City Council, said he had to check which council it was referring to.

He said: "We are not hiking prices. In the biggest areas where we set fees and charges - car parking - we are once again freezing them."

"I am hopeful that we will get the message across that this council is not 'hiking' charges. In lots of areas they are frozen and in some areas they are going up by the price of inflation. Nobody else we could count going up by the price of inflation as a hike."

The city council has said it wants to raise the cost of burials and cremations held in the city as well as charge more for collecting bulky garden waste, hackney carriage and private hire taxi licences and charging more for some of its Guildhall wedding packages.

The council said the majority of the two per cent increases were to bring prices in line with inflation.

Car parking charges would remain the same next year.