An Independent View: Free parking can help local shops

See: Parking victory for shopkeepers in Matlock Road

The inexorable and self-replicating pressure for controlled parking zones - with associated parking meters, in residential or semi-residential areas - means law-abiding shoppers are deterred from popping in to local shops or using other small businesses.

Why spend £1 to spend less than an hour buying goods or services that might cost less than, say, £10?

In some supermarkets, you can park for half an hour for free - even if you do not spend a single penny there.

There are interesting consequences of the spread of residential permit-holder areas.

Firstly, hundreds of parking spaces remain empty for most of the day - even though they are only minutes away from the seafront or the traffic-congested, NCP-extorted heart of the city.

Secondly, many parking spaces - with associated meters - have been created on stretches of road that previously were marked with double-yellow lines, presumably because they were deemed too dangerous for (free) parking.

A citywide review of parking should be a priority for the new council next May.

Before then, councillors might care to review parking near every parade of local shops - with the aim of providing free parking for at least an hour for shoppers.

With Small Business Saturday on December 6, there could not be a better time.