Clwyd West AM Darren Millar is calling on Conwy County Council to reconsider plans to introduce charges at an Abergele car park.
Currently people can park free of charge at the town’s library car park, but the council is planning to make people pay.
Darren has been contacted by several businesses in the town who fear this will have a detrimental effect on high street trade.
He has therefore sent a letter to Conwy County Borough Council highway officials urging them to scrap the proposals.
He said:
“Town centre car parking charges are a tax on the high street which are counterproductive for local authority finances. Whilst there may be some income in the short term from such fees these would be more than offset by losses in business rates when shops lose customers and close their doors, as shoppers seek to avoid charges and inconvenience by taking their business elsewhere.
“The Council already runs a fee charging car park on Water Street in Abergele which is very underused and I suspect that this would be the fate of the car park next to the Library.
“As business people in the town have said, there are already too empty premises in the town and introducing charges could be the final nail in the coffin for many of the smaller existing businesses that are already struggling.
“The council should be doing all it can to attract people to the town, not deterring them with hefty charges.
“I have therefore written to officers urging them to reconsider these plans.”