North Yorkshire County Council is set to extend a free parking policy for Northallerton town centre.
The authority hopes the move will give it more time to assess the effect of its charges on shoppers and to help businesses while social distancing measures are in place.
Council leaders are set to approve continuing to offer one-hour free parking concession on Northallerton High Street and Knaresborough Market Place until January 31.
The authority has faced pressure from traders to relax its parking regimes, which it says are designed to cut congestion rather than generate money, particularly since Hambleton District Council announced it would be offering free parking in its car parks until January 3.
Last February, the council was urged by traders to review its existing on-street parking operation in Northallerton and extend the free parking allowance from 30 minutes to two hours.
The authority rejected the call in July, saying its parking policy remained appropriate, but approved a separate proposal to extend the 30 minutes free parking allowance on the high street to one hour for the remainder of the year to support local businesses and shoppers during the pandemic.
Councillor Don Mackenzie, the authority’s executive member for highways, said the parking regime in Northallerton High Street had been a great success in encouraging a turnover of spaces and making it easier for drivers to find a parking space, resulting in less congestion.
He said it was important to remember that parking charges in towns such as Knaresborough and Northallerton were extremely low compared to other places.
Northallerton councillor Caroline Dickinson has warned that free parking alone cannot resolve all the issues that the town is facing and it is important for everyone to work together to find solutions that ensure Northallerton remains sustainable into the future. The council’s leaders also asked for a study of the scheme to consider whether to extend the free parking offer.
Ahead of a meeting on Friday, an officers’ report states insufficient information has been generated over the relatively short time the free parking concession has been operational, and the study further compromised by the latest four-week lockdown.
As a result, it is proposed to extend the one hour free parking concession to apply throughout January in Northallerton and Knaresborough, allowing additional time to gather and assess data.
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