PARKING in Station Road car park, Devizes, should be free or at least for fees to be substantially reduced on those proposed by Wiltshire Council, says the town council.

Members of the planning committee voted to put four recommendations to Wiltshire as part of its biggest ever revue of car parks in the county.

Coun Sue Evans said she believed that parking in Station Road should be free.

She said: “At the moment the car park is often empty and if it was free people wanting to park all day would be attracted to it and not take up spaces in the rest of the town.”

Coun Nigel Carter said Wiltshire proposed to reduce the price of all-day parking in Station Road from £5.20 to £4.50.

He said: “For a number of people working in the town this is still a large part of an hour’s pay. I wouldn’t want to pay an hour of my pay in parking fees.”

He said he was also worried about Wiltshire’s proposal for town and parish councils to take over the running of some car parks.

“I think it would be imprudent to do this,” he said.

The town council is to write to Wiltshire saying the main parking issues to be considered in Devizes is free or greatly reduced charges in Station Road car park, a review of maximum stay in principle town centre car parks, residential parking and making other car parks long stay.

The council has started talking to people living close to the town centre about the possibility of introducing permit schemes.

A working party chaired by Coun Carter produced a report which said: “The main principle being promoted by the working party is to free the main town centre car parks of commuter traffic, giving them a higher turnover of spaces for shoppers.”