A SHORT stay car park in the centre of Bury St Edmunds will be free from 8am to 10am on Wednesdays from April 10 to allow shoppers to pop into the adjacent market.

Lower Baxter Street car park is a high turnover car park used by visitors wanting to make a quick trip to the historic town centre, including the famous chartered provisions market operating on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

It is operated by St Edmundsbury Borough Council and, as part of their commitment to supporting town centre businesses, they have agreed to a year pilot of two hours free parking between 8am and 10am on Wednesday mornings.

Darren Old, chairman of the St Edmundsbury Market Traders Association, said: “This is welcome support for the market and particularly for our excellent fresh produce traders.

“I hope it encourages new people, perhaps on their way to work, or home from the school run, to drop by and pick up their five a day, amongst many other attractive offers.

“Lower Baxter Street car park is literally just round the corner and no distance at all to take your week’s locally grown fruit and veg to the car.”

Cameron Findlay, car parking services manager for St Edmundsbury Borough Council, said: “The borough council works wherever it can to make a vibrant town centre and car parks play an important role in the local economy.

“Our approach is to put customers first and I hope this offer proves popular, and brings more people in to use the town.”

Car parking attendants will be offering car park users a flyer with information about this and another offer of free parking after 3pm on Tuesdays in Bury, along with details of the new tariffs and parking hours which come into effect on April 8.

These details can also be found on the council website at www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk/parking

The idea of offering free parking came out of an in-depth Overview and Scrutiny review of the borough’s parking, which was supported by the council’s cabinet in their budget setting.