GIVEN the differing needs of people who work in Hexham all day and those who visit to use the town’s facilities, the local business forum survey into the willingness of their members to pay for parking in specifically designated spaces is an understandable proposal.

However, free parking is a huge benefit to their customers, so I would like to suggest a positive variation to their thinking.

Rather than differentiate particular spaces in specified places in the town for paid parking, my proposal would be to differentiate the parking discs issued by the council.

It would be very simple to offer pre-paid, separately colour-coded discs to local business people, giving them the right to extended parking times in any existing space, anywhere in the town; say up to four hours in two hour spaces, eight and half hours (ie a full working day plus a bit of leeway) in three hour spaces, and unrestricted use of all day spaces.

This would give much more flexible access to longer term parking in all of the town’s car parks to those who are prepared to pay, without excluding shoppers.

An appropriate charge for this extended access might be, say, £300 per year (the equivalent of £1 per trading day).

A further advantage of such a scheme might accrue if the council could negotiate access for pre-paid disc holders to some of the town’s existing unde-utilised private parking.

Surely, with a bit of imagination and goodwill, we can find a way to solve our parking issues which works for both shoppers and business people?

DAVID OLIVER

Hexham