Drivers and business owners in four Carmarthenshire towns have tried to change council plans to introduce parking charges.

The council wants to bring in fees for 11 car parks in Ammanford, Llandeilo, Llandovery and Newcastle Emlyn.

Cllr John Crossley: against charges

The authority says it needs to charge for parking to raise the standards of the car parks and to bring these towns in line with others in the county.

But businesses claim trade will be affected as shoppers will go elsewhere where free parking is provided.

Newcastle Emlyn Chamber of Trade has organised a 6,000-name petition to oppose the proposals.

Councillor John Crossley said: "I am certainly objecting to charging for parking here.

"You can not compare our town with the other much larger ones.

Rob Sully: standardising car park fees

"Locals make frequent, short visits into our town.

"They will now look at out-of-town supermarket shopping with free parking and businesses in the town will suffer."

The council says local concerns have been taken into account with the level of charges proposed - 20p up to four hours and 40p for all day parking.

The cost of upgrading the car parks concerned is estimated to be around �91,000.

Decision

This includes staffing and transport costs to patrol the car parks.

Rob Sully, Carmarthenshire's environment and economic development director, said: "The introduction of structured car parking across the county will assist the council in managing traffic more efficiently within our towns and make sure people are able to park easily and have good parking facilities in their local community.

"We already charge for parking in Carmarthen and Llanelli. "

A final decision on the proposals will be made by the full council on Thursday.