Support grows for parking plan

Newark and Sherwood District Council is to support calls for a review of Sunday carparking in Newark.

It follows calls by businesses in the town centre to free-up unused loading bays for short-stay parking, a move they feel would help to attract more shoppers.

The carparking and markets manager for the district council, Mr Ian Harrison, said: “We would support a review of conditions to see if this a move we could make on Sundays.

“We hope the county council will look at it because we want the number of people coming into the town centre and the footfall to be as high as possible.

“We know that carparking is a key area and we know that retailers are concerned about it.”

He said most people who parked in the town centre stayed for one or two hours, which fitted in with the idea of short-stay parking bays.

Masdings and Oxygen, on Middlegate, have started a petition calling for the bays to be used for free parking at weekends.

County councillor Mr Keith Girling has asked the highways department to look into making the change on Sundays.

The council’s traffic manager, Mr Peter Goode, has indicated the idea could be adopted if there was enough demand from retailers.

Another established town-centre trader who added his voice to the campaign said he would like to see restrictions lifted on Saturdays as well.

Mr Andrew Hind, of Sibley’s butchers on Kirkgate, said there was no reason why loading bays should not be freed up for the whole weekend.

“No business in the town takes deliveries at the weekend,” he said.

“There are areas that are wide enough and good enough to accommodate free parking and they should be used on both days.

“It is an issue we have been raising for years but nobody ever seems to listen.”