TRADERS in Darlington have called on the council to extend the late night parking offer on Thursday evenings to include every day in the run up to Christmas.

Darlington Borough Council introduced a ‘free after 3pm’ initiative in its car parks to run each Thursday before Christmas to enable visitors to take advantage of late night shopping.

Distinct Darlington, the business improvement district (BID), has backed traders’ calls for the offer to be extended, but the council says the current funding climate makes it impossible.

Alex Hirst, Distinct Darlington manager, said: “We think it’s great for customers that there is an incentive to park in Darlington this Christmas but we would like to see ‘free after 3pm’ running every day before Christmas to really give traders a boost at a key time of year.

“It’s clear to see there’s some major investment happening in the town centre, like the Feethams cinema development and the multi-storey car park, which is great to see.

“However, with this comes some disruption that our traders have had to put up with for several months.”

Distinct Darlington has echoed comments from trader who are concerned over the continued disruption in the town centre, including the repair work at Stonebridge.

Distinct Darlington believes that an extension of the ‘free after 3pm’ could help businesses recoup trade during the festive season but their request to have the offer broadened was dismissed by the council.

Peter Bulmer, chair of Distinct Darlington’s board and owner of Coopers Coffee House & Tea Rooms and Waterhouse Kitchen, said he hoped the council would reconsider their decision.

A council spokesperson said that the authority works with BID to actively promote shopping in the town centre and that good quality parking provision was part of this work.

She added: “We know that late night shopping is popular on Thursdays and are happy to forgo the parking income to help support town centre shops.

“Distinct Darlington has not offered any financial support with our parking promotions, and in the current funding climate, we cannot justify the cost of additional parking offers.”

She also pointed out that daily offers are available in all council car parks offering three hours parking for the price of two, with some charging just 50p an hour.