A massive new car park is being built on the beach front at Scheveningen. Photo: DutchNews.nl

Parking charges in the centre of The Hague and Scheveningen are to be raised to a flat rate of €50, even for a 10-minute trip to the shops, in a bid to free up spaces for locals.

The city council hopes that by making on-street parking prohibitively expensive it will force visitors to use car parks, leaving more room for permit holders.

The experiment will last for a year and initially apply in around 20 streets in the centre of The Hague and around Scheveningen boulevard.

Last year the council raised hourly parking charges from €3.50 to €10 in an attempt to persuade people to switch to public transport.

Marieke de Jong, from the Oude Centrum residents’ association, said most locals backed the plan. ‘You can’t park anywhere, you have to wait for someone to get in their car and leave,’ she said.

But some local businesses worry that the measure will be bad for trade. Fleur Kruyt, who runs a liquor store on Lange Beestenmarkt in the city centre, told Omroep West: ‘It won’t make doing business easier if people are going out of the door with a box that weighs around 10 kilos.’