TOWNS in Cornwall will not be able to offer ‘extra’ days of free parking to Christmas shoppers in Cornwall Council-run car parks this year.

In previous years, the local authority has provided one ticket-free day, on a date chosen by individual towns. Town councils have then been able to ‘buy in’ further days by making a payment to Cornwall Council.

In Liskeard, the Town Council has been taking advantage of this scheme since 2015 to provide free parking on each Saturday in December.

But in a letter to local councils, the Transport department says it can’t afford to offer the extra days of free parking this year – even though it’s the towns themselves that would foot the bill.

The local authority says that the resources needed to take the machines in and out of service multiple times would be too great.

One fixed day of free parking is to be given this year – and it’s happening on December 4.

Mayor of Liskeard Simon Cassidy said he was extremely disappointed by the decision to scale the parking offer back. He said: “We need to do everything we can to support our businesses in the town as we come out of the pandemic. Christmas is a good time to do that.”

Traders Association chair Lin Moore said: “It’s disappointing that we can’t get Cornwall Council to be a bit more generous with the parking charges, especially when people have had such a hard time of it over the last 18 months.

“I’m very appreciative of the Town Forum and the Town Council for their continued efforts on the free parking.

“But I do wonder why it would ever change now when it’s been the same for the last 12 years.” Cornwall Councillor Nick Craker said that the loss of the December free parking offer was "really disappointing" but that he felt that the bigger story was around the parking regime that was in place throughout the year."One issue we've always had is that we don't like what is there, but as a town, we've not come up with an alternative," he said.A consultation on parking would start in the new year, he said, and while he did not want to see a blanket approach to charges, he said that it could be that Cornwall Council would be looking to streamline the current tariffs: there are around 150 different tariff structures in different parts of the county.

Chair of the Town Forum David Ambler said he was “deeply concerned at the lost opportunity to provide additional free parking for Liskeard during the Christmas run-up”.

He added: “The high-street is still recovering from the impact of COVID-19, while trying to compete with online and out-of-town traders.?

“This gives the impression Cornwall Council are asking the high-street to compete with one arm held tightly up behind its back.”

The Forum, as well as Liskeard’s current Cornwall Councillors, campaigned for a better deal on car-parking charges during 2020. Mr Ambler said he was pushing for a meeting with Cornwall Council to discuss the current fee structure.

“Our aim is to make sure the voices and needs of local businesses and residents are heard as part of any future Cornwall Council car-parking pricing review,” he said.

“The Forum would welcome comments from businesses and residents about parking charges, so we can represent your views.”

Meanwhile, contractor G4S, which employs the staff who empty the money from the machines, is still short-staffed, which has led to machines across Cornwall being out of service.

The Cornish Times asked G4S how many staff its contract in the county was short by and how many car park collections this had affected.

In a statement, a G4S Spokesperson simply said: "We are working closely with our customers to resolve the current service issues."