An impassioned plea for parking charge reform was made at a Suffolk town’s annual parish meeting.

Framlingham resident Anne Owen implored community leaders to back her calls for an extra hour’s free parking each morning at the town’s Fore Street car park – bringing it in line with Wickham Market.

Mrs Owen said she does not have easy access to on-street parking near her home, and would like to use the car park overnight.

However, as car parking charges start at 8am, prior to when Mrs Owen leaves for work in Felixstowe, she says she either has to pay for an hour each morning, which is inconvenient, or risk a fine.

If the charges were brought in line with Wickham Market, where charging does not start until 9am, Mrs Owen says it would be far more useful for her and her neighbours.

Speaking at the annual parish meeting, she highlighted the empty spaces in the car park each morning as being evidence of the policy’s failure.

“My point is why do they not give us the same charge time as Wickham Market, which is just next door,” she said. “Why do they want us to suffer? This world is so full of injustice and all I want is to change the time so it’s the same as it is at Wickham Market. How difficult would that be?”

Andrew Nunn, who is responsible for parking at Suffolk Coastal, explained the concessions in Wickham Market had been agreed because parents needed to use the car park to drop their children at school. However, the charge time will revert back to 8am when the next arrangements take effect.

“Suffolk Coastal recently reviewed its car parking arrangements across the district and has tried to be responsive to the differing community needs,” he said.

Mr Nunn highlighted the “roll-over” parking tariff that had been introduced in Framlingham, following consultation with the town council, so people parking overnight could pay in the evening for parking time the following morning.

He said: “As far as we are aware, this new arrangement is working well and has been well received by local residents, so there are no plans to change it at this stage. However, we will continue to monitor the situation and remain in close contact with the town council.”