The locations of 28 newly-charged car parks have been unveiled. Belfast, Bangor, Ballymena, Londonderry and Coleraine are included in the list.

The change was agreed last year and is separate from this week's decision by Regional Development Minister Danny Kennedy not to introduce more on-street parking charges.

A DRD spokeswoman said: "The legislation to introduce these charges is at an advanced stage and the department is currently dealing with the small number of objections that were received during its consultation exercise."

The proposal to change some car parks from free to paid for was part of last year's annual tariff review. The consultation was advertised in March this year.

On-street car parking charges in Belfast have risen by 20p, to £1.20 an hour.

The cost of using a DRD car park has also gone up by 10p per hour.

On-street parking charges for 30 towns and cities across Northern Ireland will not go ahead, the Regional Development Minister announced this week.