Petition launched to save free parking in Sudbury, Suffolk

Earlier this month Babergh District Council announced they were considering scrapping free parking in Sudbury, Hadleigh and Laven in order to help balance out their books. 

Currently people get three hours of free parking but the council has said the cost of subsidising the car parks cost them about £425,000 this year and it is set to increase next year.

Now people in Sudbury have set up an online petition to help save free parking in the three locations. 

READ MORE: Opinion: Getting rid of free parking will destroy our town centre

More than 1,800 people have signed the online petition which has been started by Paul Clover. 

The petition states: "The introduction of extra car parking charges would further reduce the number of customers, employees and viability of retail businesses."

Babergh councillor David Busby (Image: Archant)

Babergh council leader David Busby said: “Like all local authorities, we are facing tough financial decisions for the year ahead and find ourselves facing an increasingly difficult challenge.

“We need to balance our books; we need to support our high streets and town centre businesses by encouraging trade; and we need to encourage more sustainable travel in order reduce congestion in our towns, improve air quality and tackle climate change.

“Thankfully, these things are not mutually exclusive. 

"By introducing a revised tariff that includes short-term charges that are as low as possible compared to other authorities, we can continue to attract visitors to our towns and by working together with our towns and parishes, ensure shoppers and workers have access to the right spaces in the right places – increasing space turnover and offering more sustainable travel options, particularly for those simply ‘popping in’ to the high street.”

The online petition can be viewed here.