EIGHTY-five per cent of Cardigan businesses enjoyed a boom in trade after vandals broke several parking meters in June, Cardigan Traders have told Ceredigion County Council chiefs.

The traders say the increase ranged from less than 10 per cent, up to 50 per cent, with an average of about 20 per cent and that if this increase was sustained it would be worth “several millions of pounds” to the local economy.

Cardigan Traders were giving evidence to the local authority’s Thriving Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee, whose members are compiling a county-wide report on parking, on Friday morning.

There they unveiled the results of their recent survey ‘The effect of parking charges on turnover’ illustrating what they maintain was the effect on trade during the three-week period the meters were out of service in the summer.

The traders recommended the introduction of two to four hours of free parking in all visitor car parks in Cardigan as well as specially-designated car parks for workers and long-term parking and the introduction of a barrier-controlled system, to eliminate the “clock-watching” of visitors and shoppers, fearful of a large fine.

“We feel that this will attract more people to the town, reduce the cost of enforcement to the council and hopefully make Cardigan a more pleasant and happier place to visit,” said Cardigan Traders vice-chairman Julian Beynon-Lewis.

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