NEARLY 4,000 people have backed a call to restore one hour free parking in Wiltshire Council’s car parks.

This was scrapped by the council’s Conservative run Cabinet in 2011, a decision opposed by Chippenham’s Liberal Democrat MP Duncan Hames.

As the council’s countywide consultation on parking ended on Friday, he presented them with a petition signed by 3,750 people.

All are demanding they should not have to pay to park in Wiltshire’s towns for an hour.

Wiltshire Council began a parking review in November looking at the future of charges in their car parks.

Mr Hames said he launched the petition last July to demonstrate the strong feeling of residents and support town centre businesses that have to compete with out of town shopping areas with free parking.

He said: “People in Wiltshire have demonstrated their strength of feeling with nearly 4,000 people, mostly from Chippenham and Melksham, calling for the re-introduction of the hour’s free parking.

“Local businesses have backed the campaign and shared with me their concerns about the effect on trade caused by these parking charges.

"We want thriving towns and thriving town centres, creating jobs, and giving shoppers more choice. We need Wiltshire Council’s parking charges to encourage the use of town centre shops.

“I hope the Conservative Cabinet will listen to this very clear message from residents and traders. Local people have spoken, and now expect the council to act.”

In January last year, Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate Michelle Donelan launched a campaign to reduce town centre parking charges. She will stand against Mr Hames and Labour’s Andy Newman in this year’s general election.

She surveyed 8,000 homes in Chippenham and had thousands of replies, which were passed onto Wiltshire Council. Nearly three-quarters of respondents - 72 per cent - said some free parking should be introduced.

A whopping 93 per cent of residents thought parking charges in Chippenham were too high, with 88 per cent saying they would shop in the town more often if parking charges were slightly reduced.