THE numbers are out – and it looks like quite a lot of people are going to have to splash out more cash.

The figures in the city council budget show that rents are going up at sites across the city.

Parking fees are also going to increase.

No doubt there are reasons for the rises.

The Government has come under fire for cutting the grants it shells out to local councils.

And the city council has a point – with the total it is being handed set to drop from £19m to £10m by 2015-16.

Once again, the financial crisis is the ultimate cause of this situation.

But that will mean nothing to the people who find themselves struggling to pay their bills as a result of this – or indeed to those who want to park in the city centre.

Business leaders are, unsurprisingly, not impressed either.

Fewer people will come into town, they say – while the looming work on the massive Westgate redevelopment will, they claim, also have an effect.

If we look at it from the other side, the council will, rightly, say that it has to make increases every year in some areas.

Indeed, inflation dictates it.

And it has clearly not been dealt an easy hand.

All that being said, sympathy for the council can only go so far.

Once again, the cost of living is on the rise.