Traders' chairman calls for speedy action on parking

It follows independent parking studies carried out in four market towns in the county indicating that hundreds of extra parking spaces are required to meet demand.

In Alnwick’s case, at least 150 additional spaces are required at peak times and, as previously reported by the Gazette, in response to the detailed survey, the town council has drawn up an action plan of how to tackle some of the key issues.

This has been welcomed by other stakeholders, including the Chamber of Trade (Act).

The county council extended the consultation period to last Wednesday, but now that this is over, Act chairman Carlo Biagioni is calling for some of the measures to be introduced as quickly as possible.

In particular, he would like to see the 24-hour limits in the long-stay car parks, to prevent people from leaving vehicles for days at a time, to be introduced by the Easter holidays.

“This would be very easy to change and implement,” he said.

“We would also appreciate it if they could manage to do the signage from the Greenwell Lane car park along the route to the St Michael’s school field, adjacent to the bowling club, that was used for over a month last summer and was well-used at peak times.”