Anyone who has spent any time in and around a local newspaper office will know there are certain recurring themes that are likely to pop up just about any time.

Dog fouling is a perennial, potholes is another.

And car parking and parking charges is a topic that is absolutely bound to get the hackles raised and angry letters to the editor.

In a way, I have some sympathy with local councils.

Parking has to be controlled or it becomes a free-for-all that annoys residents when out-of-towners clog up their residential streets.

Its also fair to say some kind of charge for parking is reasonable. After all, councils have to maintain and manage their car parks and nothing comes without a cost.

But the problem arises when car park charges are perceived as nothing more than a money raising exercise for cash-strapped councils.

Take, for example, Cheshire East. It recently increased its charges by 10p and some councillors didn't like that.

A cross-party budget amendment was put forward by Cllr Sam Corcoran, Labour group leader, and Cllr Arthur Moran, independent group leader, at last Thursday’s full council meeting.

The pair called on Cheshire East Council to remove the increase which comes into effect on March 8 at most of the authority’s pay and display sites, and to reverse the decision to introduce charging on the Thomas Street car park, in Crewe, until 3pm.

Cllr Moran warned the ruling Conservative group that the charge has been met with ‘very strong opposition’ in his Nantwich ward, in next-door Crewe and across the borough.

Ahead of the vote, Cllr Stewart Gardiner, Conservative member for Knutsford, provoked anger from the opposition as he questioned the outcry over the 10p rise.

Having declared ‘I do live in the real world’ after prompting shouts from across the chamber, Cllr Gardiner said: “I’m not originally from round here, I’m from down south, where 10p parking increases would be deemed to be ‘wow – we’ve got away with it’.

“Cheshire is not a poor, impoverished area.

“It is a well-off area. In most of our towns – and I accept the situation in Crewe and Macclesfield is slightly different – but there are parts of our borough where 10p would not be noticed.

“We haven’t had an increase for nearly six years, this is effectively tuppence a year, it is not a significant increase on that.”

So let's just put this in context, the people in Cheshire East are getting their knickers in a twist over a 10p increase. Maybe Cllr Gardiner has a point.

But what of the good people of Northwich.

Traditionally, parking was free and this was one of its 'selling points', theoretically attracting shoppers to the town.

But Cheshire West and Chester council decided to start charging for some of its car parks – 50p for four hours (but still free at the Barons Quay car park.)

And what was the response? More than 3,000 people signed a petition calling on borough chiefs to overturn the introduction of the charges.

Adrian Leech told Cheshire West and Chester’s full council meeting on Thursday that he is ‘increasingly concerned’ about the future of the town following the introduction of parking charges last November.

And he announced that a petition run by campaigners against the charges is now close to the threshold that will force a debate among CWAC members.

Adrian said: “Every one of those – banks, building societies, butchers, bakers but no candlestick makers – are all objecting. The general person in the street, like myself, is objecting to it.

“One of our chief selling points in the town – unique almost in this country – was that you could come to Northwich, everybody is welcome, but now we are saying you’ve got to pay to park."

At an earlier council meeting, Tory Cllr Andrew Dawson said: “Surely we as a council should be doing everything we can to support our high streets to make sure that our businesses are successful?

“Don’t fall into the trap of thinking a small charge makes no difference. Small charges do make a difference.”

Cllr Paul Dolan, Labour member for Winnington and Castle, is cabinet member for adult social care.

He added in December: “You talk about pressures on the high street – there are also huge pressures on councils. Many of them are facing bankruptcy, and we have seen a number of them at cliff-edge.

“This year has undoubtedly been a bloodbath for retail, and we’ve heard of major stores that have gone, but Northwich is bucking that trend. This town is on the up.”

My thanks to the Guardian's Josh Pennington who has done some research into car parking charges.

When you add up a return journey in fuel (from Northwich) and the parking charges for four hours in those towns, here is how much it would cost for each:

Chester – £12.01

Crewe – £7.18

Warrington – £7.82

Knutsford – £5.63

Runcorn – £8.28

Cheshire Oaks – £5.63

Northwich – 50p (or free at Barons Quay)