NORTON councillors have called for St Nicholas Street car park to remain charge free to help prevent problems with parking elsewhere in the town.

Members have been asked to give their views on parking in the town as part of a move by Ryedale District Council to develop a car park strategy for Malton and Norton.

Charges for St Nicholas Street have been suggested for a number of years but never implemented due to opposition from North Yorkshire County Council Highways.

Members of Norton Town Council said that while they realised there were problems with people abusing the town's car park they were against the introduction of charges.

Councillor Hugh Spencer said: "Charges would weed out the abusers, but it would also force people to park on the surrounding roads instead.

"Even if we have a free time limit and then introduce charges that would have to be enforced by a traffic warden."

Councillor Bryan Barrett said a change to free parking could also lead to safety issues.

"If parents cannot park in the car park they could start dropping their children off at the traffic lights near the swimming pool in Church Street which would be dangerous."

Councillor David Lloyd-Williams said: "While a few people abuse the system overall it appears to operate reasonably well as it is.

"To introduce parking permits for people who live in the area and use the car park would cost too much money.

"Any charges would cause ongoing problems in different ways - the best solution is to leave it alone."

Mayor of Norton Councillor Ray King said: "We are aware that people park there all day to go to work and even leave their vehicles for a few days while they go on holiday.

"However, I think we should stress that St Nicholas Street car park remains as it is as we fear it will cause repercussions to other part of the town."