Free parking to return to Blackburn

Blackburn with Darwen Council officials are drawing up plans to axe charges for the first 30-minutes in main shopping areas like Church Street, Darwen Street and King Street.

And Tory council leader, Coun Colin Rigby, said he hoped it would be a matter of weeks before the changes were introduced.

The move is the brainchild of the ruling coalition which took over control of the council from Labour last month.

It is thought that the free parking could cost the council around £20,000 a year in lost revenue, but it is hoped the benefits to businesses would outweigh this.

It forms part of what new regeneration chief, Coun Alan Cottam, has described as a "fair parking policy" to stop people leaving the town for places such as the Trafford Centre and Preston.

Traders have welcomed the move, opposition councillors admitted it could bring "significant benefits", and parking campaigners said it was a step in the right direction.

Currently on-street parking is 50p for half and hour and 90p for the maximum stay of an hour.

Coun Cottam also wants to introduce a system of 'get what you pay for'.

At the moment motorists have to pay 50p or 90p, and there is nothing in between, even if they only want to park for a few minutes.

A previous policy passed by Labour before May's election to extended short stay to two hours in some places will also be introduced.

Bosses are currently looking at how software can be re-programmed so that meters can issue free tickets for the first half hour.

Coun Cottam said: "We are looking at widening the flexibility of parking so certain machines will be able to issue free tickets.

"It would be extremely short term - half an hour."

He said he was keen to curb the "leakage" of shoppers to the Trafford Centre and Preston, which he said had an "excellent" park and ride.

"I feel that our car borne shoppers have not had a fair deal on car parking and that needs to be addressed, because we need to bring them back in," he added.

He vowed that commuters would also be provided with an alternative car park before long-stay car parks in large Alma Street, Simmons Street, and Brewery Street, Blackburn were closed for re-development.

The car parks have about half of the council's total of 650 long-stay spaces.

Coun Rigby said: "This is something we have wanted to do for a long while.

"If someone wants to just nip into the bank it is an imposition to have to pay for it.

"I don't think the costs are very big, plus hopefully it will attract people to the town centre."

Phil Ainsworth, chairman of the town centre marketing committee, said: "I think it has been realised that something has to be done, and this is something we have been asking for a long time.

"The whole package would bring huge benefits and would be something the town could be marketed on, which would hopefully bring more people in."

He said extending parking from one to two hours in places like Darwen Street, where his jewellers is based, would be very beneficial to traders.

Coun Kay, Labour's former regeneration chief, said: "It's like everything else, it's not the way I would go about it.

"But as has been shown previously if you are careful about how and where it is done, it could have significant benefits."