ON-STREET parking meters could be the answer to tackling parking problems and boosting business in Tavistock town centre, according to the chamber of commerce — but many feel it could have the opposite effect.

The chamber is preparing to send out a questionnaire to town businesses to gauge opinion on the controversial subject of parking meters after it came to light that many business owners were feeling short-changed by the current parking situation.

Chamber chairman Nigel Eadie said people were parking in the restricted one-hour parking bays in the town centre all day without being challenged, thus the turnover of cars visiting the town was not what it should be.

'It is better than it has been in the past, with the introduction of the new system of civilianised parking enforcement, but we only have four enforcement officers to cover the whole of West Devon,' he said.

'We think the opportunity is being missed of providing a quick turnover of people visiting the town and subsequently spending money there.

'At the moment, this is being hampered by people parking all day because the traffic wardens are not around enough.'

But not all traders in Tavistock feel that on-street pay and display machines would be beneficial to their businesses.

Some have said they think it may 'kill the town' because people would go elsewhere, such as the supermarkets where parking is free.

The chamber said it had looked at how a similar scheme had worked in Totnes and talked to numerous business owners there who spoke 'unanimously' about how successful it had been.

The parking costs were set at 20p for 30 minutes and 40p for one hour.

A rebate scheme, which is also being proposed for Tavistock, involved customers being refunded their parking charge by traders if they spent over £5 and these charges being rebated by the council to the business.

Manager of Stokes greengrocers Maggie Bradford said: 'It's hard enough to park in town anyway unless you want to pay to go in the car park.

'I cannot see how it will help business, it will probably kill the town because people will shop somewhere else.'

Robert Creber, of Crebers Delicatessen, said there were so many parking problems in Tavistock and people parking all day in the high street was not helping: 'I do think if we had parking meters people should be allowed free parking for the first half hour.'

He said the five minutes free parking proposed by the chamber was not enough for people to pop into two or three shops.

Shopper Lisa Durkin from Gulworthy said it was nice to have the option of short-stay free car parking: 'I think bringing charges in will have a negative effect and stop people coming in.

'We need to encourage people into towns because the supermarkets are taking them away.'

Some shoppers admitted to parking longer than the restricted one hour in Duke Street.

Town and borough councillor Ted Sherrell said what would help traders more would be to create more on-street parking in, or close to, the centre of town.

He added: 'There are areas where existing yellow lines could be taken away.

'Also, regarding off-street charges, we should be looking to reduce charges, which would encourage more visitors to use them and stay longer.'