The Christchurch City Council's car parking charges have brought in $1.5 million more than expected in the last year.

City Councillor Jamie Gough is proposing an amendment to the Annual Plan, where the extra revenue would be used to fund free parking in the council's new Lichfield Street parking building.

The council is investigating the idea further to determine how many parks should be provided, and for what time limit.

The Lichfield Building will provide 800 parks in the CBD when it opens in Spring.

Jamie Gough said the council has 1.5 million parking dollars it didn't budget for, so free parking wouldn't hurt the books.