PEOPLE are being urged to have their say on plans to introduce parking meters in Weston-super-Mare town centre.
North Somerset Council, which hopes to introduce the new traffic regulation orders later this summer, is launching a consultation to gather the views of residents, traders and visitors on the scheme.
Council chiefs say the move to introduce parking meters on 28 streets in the town centre is necessary to regulate parking in the town and follows concerns from traders, shoppers and residents that motorists are flouting existing parking restrictions by leaving cars in timed bays for longer than allowed.
Motorists will pay 20 pence for the first 20 minutes, £1 for up to one hour, £1.80 for up to one and a half hours and £2.40 for up to two hours, with a maximum stay of two hours.
The cost of parking in the town's car parks will also be reduced to £1 an hour for the first three hours in an attempt to encourage people to use them.
Charging for on-street parking will allow the authority to employ a team of parking attendants who would enforce the new regulations.
Surplus cash generated from the scheme would also be ploughed back into maintaining the road network.
Police would still be responsible for ticketing people parking illegally on double yellow lines or for anyone causing an obstruction. Initially the scheme will be introduced in the centre of the town but may later be extended to other areas and towns in the district where similar parking congestion problems have been identified.
People are being asked to submit their comments by July 6.
The plans were approved by the authority's executive in May and following the statutory consultation period, a final decision in relation to the charges to be applied will made by the executive in late July, with the scheme being introduced in September.
Details of the scheme, including charges and maps, can be viewed online at www.n-somerset.gov.uk/onstreetparking and are also available at Somerset House in Oxford Street, Weston-super-Mare, Castlewood, Tickenham Road, Clevedon and at Weston-super-Mare Library.
Comments can be made by email at on.street.parking@n-somerset.gov.uk or by post to On-street parking scheme, North Somerset Council, Somerset House, Oxford Street, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 1TG.
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