Free car parking to woo more shoppers

North Lincolnshire Council is ditching the parking fees for the first two hours from today in its car parks in Brigg. A free hour of parking is also being introduced in Scunthorpe and Ashby in the next few weeks.

The council’s previous Labour administration had pushed ahead with introducing the parking charges, despite thousands of residents opposing the proposals.

However, major disruption has been caused after motorists began using residential streets and the local Tesco to avoid the car parking charges.

The new Conservative administration has revised the scheme to provide the two hours of free parking after regaining power in May’s local election.

North Lincolnshire Council’s cabinet member for highways and neighbourhoods, Coun Nigel Sherwood, claimed that the Tory-controlled authority had made a commitment in June to deliver free parking.

Coun Sherwood added: “We are making it easier and cheaper for people to visit the town centres and I hope this will lead to an upturn in trade.”

The MP for Brigg and Goole, Andrew Percy, has been calling for free parking in Brigg and said: “We have campaigned for a long time and it is really important to get more people visiting the town centre which can hopefully be achieved through the new parking system.”

Drivers have been urged to remember that they will need to get a ticket from the machine and display it as normal to show enforcement officers they are using the new scheme that comes into place from today.

The changes mean that two hours of free parking will be offered in Brigg at the Old Courts Road and The Angel sites, while the first hour will be free in Scunthorpe and Ashby.