INCREASES to South Hams Council charges for the use of Salcombe quays and slipways have been branded 'a tax on fishermen' by one councillor. South Hams and Devon county councillor Julian Brazil made the comment in a meeting of South Hams Council's executive last Thursday. At the meeting, members were asked to consider proposed new fees and charges for Salcombe Fish Quay, and other slipways, for the year 2014 / 2015. These include new parking charges for fishermen, who will have to use reserved spaces and will no longer be allowed to park on the quay. Councillor Hilary Bastone, executive member for assets, told councillors that the charges at Salcombe Fish Quay would enable the council to generate an income from the recent investment in this asset, predicted to be an extra £10,000 per year. Cllr Bastone said: 'We have come to a compromise here, and going forward we can start to generate some income from the investment we did down in Salcombe.' He later added: 'We are being charitable, I feel.' The Fish Quay underwent extensive refurbishment over the winter before last, carried out by South Hams Council with match funding from the European Fisheries Fund. At the meeting, Cllr Brazil said: 'I have to say I'm very disappointed with this. This is a tax on fishermen, that's what it is, it's a £10,000 tax by South Hams Council on the fishermen of Salcombe. 'We should be giving them £10,000 not taking £10,000 out of their pockets.' South Hams councillor Paul Coulson agreed: 'It might seem charitable to only charge them £500 a year, but to the people on low or medium wages that is quite a blow.' Rob Johnstone, a Salcombe Fish Quay Committee representative helped negotiate the new charges with the council. He explained that until now workers had been able to park on the Quay with no charge. He said: 'We have come to an agreement about parking in reserved spaces, as we're no longer able to park for free on the quay. We will see an increase in our overheads, but at the same time the area has been freed up so it's much more workable. 'We've accepted the increases. The overheads have gone up, but we've got a better facility in return.' Speaking afterwards, Cllr Coulson said: 'The assets team made the point that charges are levied across other harbours in the South Hams, so it was hard to argue for Salcombe to not have something similar. We have put a lot of money into the quays, slipways and equipment like hoists. 'However, usually changes are stepped in, and it can be difficult for anyone to assimilate a sudden step change like this. These are not people with huge cash flows.' He added: 'When I first came to South Hams Council, the feeling was that Salcombe was very wealthy and could afford to pay a bit more. But actually, although we get a lot of wealthy visitors there are many people here on much lower incomes, like the fishermen and others who work in small and medium sized businesses.'