West Lindsey's Conservatives are backing the district council who are promoting their free car parking offer, reminding people that they are able to enjoy one hour free parking in all council owned car parks in Gainsborough, as Christmas approaches.

The council is reminding people that when visiting the market towns of Gainsborough or Market Rasen to shop for Christmas gifts, to make good use of the free parking that is available at the Conservative-controlled council's car parks.

Cllr Sheila Bibb, (Conservative, Gainsborough North), who is Chairman of the Prosperous Communities Committee, hopes that the one hour free parking will ‘boost’ footfall in the town. She said:

“I would encourage shoppers to utilise the one hour free parking in the centre of Gainsborough. We hope this will encourage people to shop locally and support businesses and traders, especially over the busy Festive season.”

West Lindsey District Council introduced the offer from 1 April 2018 to encourage more visitors and shoppers to the town centre.

The free hour parking is part of the Conservative-led council’s car parking strategy, which plans to increase the number of spaces available in Gainsborough by 43 per cent over the next two years.

We understand that 67.9 per cent of people who responded to a survey opted to allow the first hour of parking to be free and charged thereafter between the hours of 8am and 6pm. Motorists will still need to collect a ticket from the machines and place it in their vehicles to display, this includes pay by phone users.

Meanwhile, Cllr. John McNeill (Conservative Market Rasen), commented:

“Local people can also take advantage of two hours of free car parking in the council's car parks in Market Rasen. We have some lovely local independent shops here in the town and choosing to shopping locally will support our local businesses.”