Free town centre parking would boost High Streets, says Plaid Cymru

Free parking should be offered in town centres across Wales to boost the High Street, Plaid Cymru has said.

It called for a fund to be created to allow local councils and community groups to make free parking available, in an assembly debate on Wednesday.

Shadow Local Government Secretary Sian Gwenllian said the new fund would help "level the playing field" with out-of-town developments.

Ministers called the link between car parking and visitor numbers "complex".

Ms Gwenllian said figures for the number of people visiting town centres were worrying "with town centres such as Abergavenny, Mold and Aberystwyth experiencing a decline in footfall of 39%, 28% and 18% respectively".

"We know that the lack of free parking is often a big turn-off for shoppers," she said.

"Out-of-town developments often offer free parking so it makes it very difficult for the High Street to compete.

"By allowing local authorities and community groups to provide free parking for shoppers, we can help level the playing field for high streets and get shoppers back there."

Ms Gwenllian said Plaid wanted the Welsh Government to set up a fund to help local authorities cover the cost.

Conservative economy spokesman Russell George said free parking was "key to a High Street revival" and "all the evidence supports the argument that footfall soars when parking is made easier".

"We've spent the last four years calling on the Labour government to work with councils and introduce free parking schemes," he said.

'False premise'

Lee Waters, Labour AM for Llanelli, said Plaid's argument was based on a "false premise", saying free parking has to be paid for and takes cash away from social services and education.

Suggesting more visitors travel to the shops by foot or by bus, Mr Waters said: "There's no evidence to show that free car parking regenerates town centres."

He called for out-of-town shopping centres to have their car parking spaces taxed to put town centres on a level playing field.

A Welsh Government spokeswoman said: "We recognise the importance of high streets and are investing around £145m in supporting them through our Vibrant and Viable Places programme, Business Improvement Districts, town centre partnerships and town centre loans scheme.

"Car parking charges are a matter for local authorities - however, last year, we commissioned research into the effects of free parking on town centre footfall, which highlighted that the relationship between car parking and footfall is complex, as did the National Assembly for Wales Enterprise and Business Committee review."

She added that local councils could use the research to inform their decisions.

Meanwhile, Wrexham council has announced it will provide free parking at all council-run car parks in December.