A STUDY has been commissioned to assess the extent of Hexham's parking woes.

After years of campaigning by councillors across the town, the Conservative administration at County Hall has announced parking studies will be carried out in Hexham, Morpeth and Alnwick this summer.

The three new surveys will accompany a project to assess parking needs in Berwick, which is already under way.

And Northumberland County Council the results are expected by November.

Cabinet member for environment and local services at the county council, Glen Sanderson, said the move was in response to concerns about parking capacity regularly being raised.

He said the new administration were working to get a clearer picture of car park usage across the county.

Motorists and car park users are being told they may see traffic surveys taking place, but council officials say there won't be any disruption for drivers.

Coun. Sanderson added: "Despite the introduction of free parking some years ago, communities are often telling us that a lack of parking capacity is having a negative effect on their local economy and the sustainability of their towns.

"We're listening to these concerns and as a first step have commissioned a study to investigate the current car parking situation within each of the four main market towns where parking capacity has been identified as a key issue.

"This will establish current patterns of use and enable us to factor in the future demand for car parking spaces so that we can fully understand what improvements are required now and in the future and look at what’s needed in terms of any new car parking sites.

"Ultimately we want all our communities to prosper and have the right balance of sustainable parking for residents, visitors and businesses and this is the first step in making that happen."

It follows the introduction of 50 extra free long-stay car parking spaces on land at the former Hexham Fire Station site at Tyne Mills as a temporary measure to help alleviate the deadlock.

And the council's director of local services, Paul Jones, revealed in June that officers were working on assessing the suitability of available sites for parking in the town.