PROPOSALS to revise parking charges in some Cornwall Council-owned car parks, including Callington, to help promote town centres will be discussed on October 12.

Drawn up by the council's parking panel following a series of meetings held across Cornwall during the summer, the proposals will be decided by the council's cabinet.

Parking panel chairman Andrew Wallis said:?'One of the main comments made during last year's consultation on car parking charges was that one size does not fit all and the council needed to work with local areas to identify the issues facing them.'

Mr Wallis and council officers have met 16 community network groups across Cornwall and agreed a series of specific recommendations.

The panel is recommending that the first hour car parking fee in Callington's New Road Car Park return to 20p, as it was before the increase in April.

Callington traders have been petitioning for a reduction in the car parking fees because the lack of people using the car parks was having an effect on trade.

Their campaign was supported by Cornwall Council member for Callington Andrew Long, who also sits on the parking policy panel. He said the decision taken in April to increase the charges was having a double negative effect.

'Not only is the council not getting the income that it needs, it is discouraging people from using our town centre, which is putting the livelihood of many traders and hundred of workers under threat,' he said in an earlier article in the East Cornwall Times.

One of the issues raised during the previous public consultation was the impact of increased charges on low paid workers who were forced to park in town centre car parks.

As a result the panel is recommending the introduction of a new discounted annual season ticket, costing £300 a year, which will be available to all low paid workers who are in receipt of working tax credit.