BOOSTING business in Gunnislake and getting cars off the street — that’s the aim of Calstock Parish Council, which, this week, has taken on the management of Gunnislake Car Park and the three other car parks in the parish.

Councillors hope that by providing free parking for two hours at any time in the day at Gunnislake and reducing the cost of parking permits for residents by two thirds, parking chaos on the streets will be a thing of the past.

Shopkeepers are confident that people will use their stores more if they can park for free for longer and the move is expected to be welcomed by patients of the nearby doctors’ surgery which has limited public parking available.

Calstock Parish Council’s plan to take on the management of the car parks from Cornwall Council— including Harrowbarrow and Calstock Railway and Quay car parks — has been six years in the pipeline. They will all be leased from the local authority except the Quay Car Park which will be freehold.

Before this week it has been free to park at Gunnislake between 9am and 10am and after that 40p for an hour and £1.20 for one to two hours.

The new charges will start from 9am and provide free parking for the first two hours, with no return within four hours, and £3 all-day parking. Annual permits have been reduced from more than £300 to £100.

Parish clerk Sue Lemon said: ‘We are trying to get cars off the streets and into the car park. The whole parking situation in Gunnislake is a nightmare.

‘We are trying to make it easier for people who arrive after 9am and want to stay longer than an hour or may need to, for example, if they are at the doctors ‘surgery and their appointment is running late or if they want to do some shopping.

‘We hope that the shops in Gunnislake will benefit from this as well.

Gunnislake postmistress Mary Taylor said it was a really good thing for Gunnislake: ‘My customers have known this is going to happen from seeing previous articles in the East Cornwall Times and they are happy about it. Two hours free parking from the time they arrive is great for popping into the shops, getting stamps and pensions and seeing the doctor.

Practice business manager at Gunnislake Health Centre Linda Donaldson said patients expected to be able to park for free so she welcomed the additional free parking being offered at Gunnislake Car Park.

‘It would be nice if it was free parking all the time but unfortunately it is a fact of life that we have to pay for parking. These changes will certainly help the situation at Gunnislake.’