A cut-price solution to parking problem (From Tewkesbury Admag)

A cut-price solution to parking problem

COUNCILLORS are to press for time restrictions to be lifted and prices cut at Moreton's shoppers' car park to encourage more motorists to use it.

Cotswold District Council will also be asked about the possibility of limiting the time cars can be parked in the centre of town.

Moreton town councillor and district council vice-chairman Ben Jeffrey is hoping to join forces with fellow town councillor Rod Hooper and Gloucestershire County Council leader Barry Dare to press for the change as part of a plan to tackle the town's parking problems.

Motorists parking in the car park in Station Road have to pay 50p for up to half an hour, £1 for up to an hour, £1.60 for up to two hours and £2 for up to three hours.

Last Thursday afternoon fewer than half the spaces were being used, while the centre of the town, where parking is free, was full.

Cllr Jeffrey outlined his plans after a special town council meeting last Wednesday devoted entirely to the subject of parking in Moreton.

The meeting, attended by residents and business leaders, examined possible solutions to the town's parking problems, including the possibility of buying church-owned land off the A44 Bourton Road for a new car park, though some have expressed concern about this.

Cllr Jeffrey also suggested that the town's greens could be cut back to widen the service road and permit diagonal parking for up to 48 cars. This would involve reducing the current access roads between the greens to only one and making the service road one-way.

Stephen Farnsworth, owner of Grimes House Antiques in the High Street, described the meeting as the most positive discussion on parking he had ever heard. "I'm delighted the town council is taking such a positive approach to it," he said.

He said the proposal for Station Road car park was good but added: "It's only one of a number of strategies that could help the whole situation. I feel that unless the town centre is managed it will all fall over and they might as well do nothing."

Moreton Business Association chairman Robert Dewbery, who runs Pet Necessities, said: "It needs the combined will of all authorities in the spirit of compromise."

l What would you do to solve Moreton's parking problems? Send ideas and comments to: The Editor, The Journal, 10 Old Market Way, Moreton-in-Marsh GLL56 0AJ or email them to mark.jessop@midlands.newsquest.co.uk.