Would you like free parking for an hour?
A call is being made for council-owned car parks in Merton to offer free parking for an hour, to help boost the borough's town centres.
The proposal by Conservative councillors, set for debate at the full council meeting on Thursday (September 11), also includes 20 minutes' free parking in neighbourhood shopping parades.
Local Tories say their parking proposals will make residents and visitors to Merton think again about buying local.
Councillor Janice Howard, Merton Conservatives' Transport Spokesman, said: "Merton is surrounded by town centres which seem to want to welcome visitors and keep their residents shopping locally. Here in Merton, however, our Labour-led council seems more intent on pushing them away. It's time to stop this madness.
"We don't want to see our local shopping parades die because of over zealous parking enforcement and we don’t want to see our town centres continue to lose out to the likes of Kingston and Croydon.
"It's time to help our local businesses, residents and visitors by putting Merton on the map with an enlightened approach to parking which is fair, coherent and consistent. Our town centres and neighbourhood shopping parades are crying out for a council that is on their side."
What do you think about local parking? Why not comment on our forum?
September 6, 2013