Lymington businesses brand parking charges 'bonkers'

Motorists parking for more than 20 minutes must pay

Business owners have branded parking rules on a high street as "bonkers" and are calling for them to be reversed.

Last August, Hampshire County Council cut the length of time shoppers can park free of charge in Lymington's High Street from one hour to 20 minutes.

Shopkeepers say it has damaged trade and a petition to reverse the move has so far gained 1,500 signatures.

The council said the rules were helping to "manage demand" and that it would be repeating a survey on usage soon.

Neil Welker, who owns clothing retailer Elliots, told the BBC the parking charges were "bonkers"

Neil Welker, of clothing retailer Elliotts, said councils elsewhere were reducing or even scrapping charges to help local traders.

He said: "I think it's absolutely bonkers that in the last 12 months we've had on-street parking charges introduced for the first time by Hampshire County Council."

David McConnachie, who runs Perfumery and Co, said: "Surely now we should be making sure our high streets thrive and not put obstacles in their way."

Hampshire's universal services councillor, Nick Adams-King, said the new parking arrangements were "enabling more people to park for free to run quick errands, with others making good use of the additional flexibility of being able to pay to increase their stay for up to two hours".

The length of time motorists can park for free was cut from one hour

He said monitoring showed the new arrangements were "working well by helping to manage demand at this busy location".

"Whilst there are no plans for a full review, we will be repeating the original parking usage survey in the near future to provide further feedback on the scheme."