PLANS to trial a disc parking scheme in Padiham have met with a lukewarm reception from councillors.

Under such proposals, car parking on certain sites would be limited to two-and-a-half hours in a bid to free up spaces for shoppers and visitors.

In East Lancashire a similar scheme operates in Nelson, where the Broadway and Cross Street car parks are under restriction, and the Dockray Street car park in Colne.

But Coun Frank Cant said: “I know that consultation work has been done but I wonder if the people who have responded know anything about Padiham.”

Part of the borough’s car parking strategy, a survey showed that 46 per cent of people who took part were in favour of disc parking for the market town.

But Coun Cant said: “I am not sure that such a parking scheme in Padiham would work the same as it would in Nelson or Colne.

“It seems like a good idea but what we would to do in Padiham is ensure that there are certain car parks which remain long-term or all-day because there are several people who work in Padiham and leave their vehicles there.

“I don’t think there is a big problem in the town. There is adequate parking and you don’t see people hunting around for spaces.”

Disc parking was also used up until recently in Rossendale but when the borough council there became responsible for off-street parking councillors scrapped the scheme.

Council environment boss David Brown said: “Disc parking is generally used in town centres where you get people clogging up sites with all-day parking.

“Pendle employ disc parking, as do a lot of other authorities and there are lots of ways of operating it.”

In Pendle the discs are collected from shops and are left on dashboards with a window display demonstrating when the driver first arrived.