BURY Council bosses have defended their approach to parking charges after a business group asked them to do more.

Last week, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) wrote to nine Greater Manchester councils, including Bury, asking them to follow Rochdale Council's lead by offering three hours of free parking across the borough.

FSB claimed traders had noticed more business since the scheme began in May 2015 and hasd the added bonus of ensuring workers did not just clog up spaces all day.

FSB Manchester chairman Simon Edmondson said: "There's plenty of evidence to show car parking charges hurt traders and the figures from Rochdale speak for themselves.

"While we know some councils already operate differing forms of parking concessions, FSB believes the 'first three for free' is the best.

"While I totally understand local authority budgets are being squeezed, I would say there's an economic argument that vibrant town centres attract new businesses to the area, encourage local spending, create jobs, and ultimately have a snowball effect on regeneration."

A Bury Council spokesman said: "The matter of free parking is not as straightforward as the FSB suggests.

"Firstly, Bury Council only owns a minority of car parking spaces in the town centre.”

There are 1,400 council-owned spaces and 3,700 privately owned spaces.

The spokesman added: "Secondly, revenue from car parking charges supports the accessibility and availability of car parks, as the funding is used for things such as car park maintenance and enforcement.

"If this funding was not available, the council would have to find resources from other areas, potentially taking away from other services."

The spokesman said the council only charged for parking in Bury town centre, not other parts of the borough such as Prestwich and Whitefield.

He added: "This is in contrast to other boroughs: Rochdale, who are cited in the FSB's statement, may have some free parking in the town centre but they do charge to park in other parts of their borough.

"It is also debatable how much free parking benefits businesses. Free parking may simply encourage employees to park their car in a bay all day, or half of the day, which would leave shoppers struggling to find a space.

"Bury is thriving, not due to parking charges but to a hugely successful partnership between the council, developers and retailers, and long may that continue."