The leader of Tamworth Borough Council says that free parking is not the 'magic wand to all the issues' after a petition was launched by residents.

Councillor Danny Cook has responded to the petition – which was set up by Tamworth resident Brian Kenney in an attempt to postpone parking charges in the town centre for 12 months – in which he states that the council is unsure how it would achieve the free parking scheme financially.

"I welcome the petition and have even possibly considered signing it as I too would love to offer free parking across Tamworth," said Cllr Cook.

"The problem is I have no idea how to achieve it. Car parking income is around £800,000 a year to the council and is around 10 per cent of the Net General Fund budget to run services.

"These charges have existed, to the best of my knowledge, since the early 1980s and are so ingrained into the council's financial need/planning that it is next to impossible to remove the charges without serious cuts to services and hurting the most vulnerable in our society as these services recede.

"We all need to remember that the idea of free car parking in the town centre is not the magic wand to all the issues facing our town centre, in fact town centres across the country.

"The offer needs to improve and the council are working with town centre businesses through a BID (Business Improvement District) to raise funds to invest in an improved offer in the town centre to residents and businesses."

Mr Kenney launched the petition, which has received more than 530 signatures, to ask the council to postpone their car parking charges for at least a year to 'help regenerate the town centre' with the intention of then introducing a new pricing system that "reflects the town's needs and allows its residents and visitors to get value for money when they park in the town centre".

Cllr Cook added: "We need to recall the retail sector is changing fundamentally with more of us using the internet. This is a global change in retail shopping habits and hurts town centres. We need to improve the offer and we need to do this together as the council cannot do this alone, to note we only own 16 shops.

"I have heard some say that if we offer free car parking more business will open and the council will get additional business rates.

"The average yearly business rates for a town centre shop (depending on size) is around £15,000 a year. But the council only gets to keep around 8 per cent of business rates collected in Tamworth, the rest goes to the government and other public bodies.

"Thus to replace £800,000 a year over 300 new shops / businesses would need to open quite quickly. This is never going to happen.

"I again welcome debate with residents and fellow councillors over improvements to the town centre and the town as a whole, but believe this is not the answer, I truly wish it was."