200 free car park spaces
Shoppers are being offered more than 200 free parking spaces to get them to use Wolverhampton's struggling markets. The council is launching a one-hour free parking scheme at Market Car Park and School Street Car Park.
It will be trialled for two months from December 1.
Traders have complained for years that a lack of free parking caused shoppers to desert the indoor and outdoor markets in favour of supermarkets.
Stallholders today welcomed the move and said it would help arrest a 30 per cent drop in trade this year.
Dud Malik, chairman of the Market Traders Association, said he had fought for four years to get free parking and believed it would resurrect the market's fortunes.
He said: "All the supermarkets have free parking and we need to follow that. People don't want to carry shopping round the town."
The trial runs from December 1 to January 31 and normal parking charges apply after an hour.
Wolverhampton City Council regeneration chief Councillor Peter Bilson said: "We hope this will give people another incentive to visit Wolverhampton's wonderful city-centre market."
He said that the council had responded to the concerns of customers and traders.
Market Car Park has 73 spaces and School Street 149 spots. They are both short stay and currently charge 80p for a one-hour stay.
