REDUCING the parking pay and display time in Bovey Tracey from 6pm to 5pm is one of the suggestions being forwarded to Teignbridge Council’s across the district Off Street Parking Review.

Cllr Eoghan Kelly told Monday’s Bovey Tracey Town Council Recreation, Parks and Property Committee, that it had been made clear that there would be no pay on exit introduced in rural area car parks.

‘To do that would mean you would have to have maintenance people on hand in case of any problems. It would be pay and display, with the option of paying by cash, card or mobile phone,’ said Cllr Kelly who pointed out that the pay and display machines themselves cost some £5,000.

Cllr Rob Bray welcomed any improvements to parking to attract people into the town.

‘It is part of the bottom line in regeneration,’ he stated.

The committee agreed to forward the following suggestions to the district authority: reduce the pay and display time from 6pm to 5pm; upgrading of pay and display machines; removal of charging on bank holidays; develop a residents’ parking permit available to those living within a certain vicinity of a pay and display car park; potential for issuing permits to be managed at local level; the introduction of a tier of concessionary charges from 5pm-8am; develop a business parking permit/strategy for retail outlets and undertake a complete review of existing charges, rather than implement a percentage increase annually.