A PROPOSAL for free parking has been shot down.

The Conservative group on the Burgess Hill Town Council voted against the Labour Party’s proposal to use the Government-funded New Homes Bonus to introduce free car parking at shopping centres throughout the district.

A bonus of more than £5 million has been paid to Mid Sussex District Council and the Labour Group estimated the cost of introducing free parking in Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath and East Grinstead would be less than £2million a year Coun David Andrews, leader of the Labour Group, said: “They argued that the public [and traders] do not want free parking and, moreover, if people could afford cars they could afford parking charges.”