WARMINSTER Councillor Steve Dancey is calling on Wiltshire Council leader Jane Scott to heed David Cameron, after the Prime Minister said he was in favour of free parking in market towns.

Mr Cameron was answering a question from newly elected MP for Chippenham, Michelle Donelan, who asked what he could do for market towns such as Corsham, Chippenham, Melksham and Bradford on Avon, whose high streets have declined.

In his response at Prime Minister’s questions on July 8, Mr Cameron said that devolution was open to towns, counties and districts and that “I would also argue, in the case of market towns, that we should make parking easier—and, preferably, free”.

Councillor Dancey now believes that Wiltshire Council should take action and take the necessary steps which would allow market town’s to start thriving again.

“What I would say is that for the smaller market towns there are too high parking charges which need to be reduced for their viability, but it’s not the only factor why they are struggling,” he said.

“I’m pleased that the PM raised this issue and I would call on Wiltshire Council to protect their market towns.

“Warminster does suffer, it’s not the only problem the town has but if we were to have free parking it would help.

“We have been on about parking charges for years to the council but we’ve never really had a big enough stick to beat them with but if the Prime Minister is saying this then who else would we listen to?

“I think free parking would work but I think there should be some restriction on it but I’ve no doubt it would help.”

Philip Whitehead, cabinet member responsible for highways and transport said: “We understand the importance of having vibrant towns which strengthen our local economy and we will always consider ways to make our towns more attractive to shoppers. 

"Parking charges help fund other vital services, such as public transport, and to make all car parks free would impact on this as well as creating a situation where commuters could monopolise spaces intended for shoppers. 

“Of course we could reduce the prices in all our car parks if the government did not charge business rates on them. Even if we have a free car park we have to pay many thousands of pounds in business rates to the Government and we have to cover this charge as well as other running costs. We welcome suggestions from the Prime Minister on this.

“We consulted widely earlier this year on changes to parking and most people supported the objectives of the review. There was support for first hour free and free after 4pm parking schemes in areas where local communities are prepared to fund the service, but people were clear Wiltshire Council should not introduce higher charges or reduce services to fund these changes. We would welcome an approach from Steve Dancey of Warminster Council to help fund such an initiative.

“We listened to our residents and charges will now be set on a car park by car park basis to better reflect local circumstances rather than similar towns having the same charges. This means some car parks in the county are having their prices held for a further four years while some are being reduced where car parks are currently underused. We’re also extending the national 10 minute parking grace period to a 15 minute grace period.”