RESIDENTS and visitors to Callington will have one hour free parking in the town thanks to a ground-breaking agreement with a local supermarket, Cornwall Council and Callington Town Council.

The scheme will operate in the New Road Car Park for a trial period and will give the first hour free parking to shoppers visiting the town.

The project was facilitated by Callington’s Portreeve and Mayor Cllr Andrew Long, who is also the Cornwall Council member for the town, and representatives of the Co-operative store and Cornwall Council’s parking department in a bid to encourage local people to shop in the town centre.

Cllr Long said: ’Like many towns across Cornwall and the UK, Callington has been suffering from the twin pressures of changing shopping patterns and also the edge of town supermarkets that offer free parking. This deal, which could only have happened with the support of the Co-operative, gives people the opportunity to shop at that store and the town centre for free, which is, we believe, a first for the Duchy in council run car parks.

’In order to gain the free parking, drivers will have to add their number plate as usual in the car park and press the one hour button to receive the ticket.’

This was echoed by the town council clerk Helen Dowdall. She said: ’We welcome the agreement and it is great to see people working together. However it is only going to work if the people of the town use the free parking and shop locally. This is only for a trial period of a few months to assess the success. So now it is up to the traders of the town to think of innovative ways of getting people to come here and also the people of our community. If we do not use it, we will lose it.’

This trial is expected to last a few months and will then be reviewed by the Co-op and Cornwall Council to assess the level of success.