Traders in Littlehampton are furious after plans were revealed to abolish free parking in the town centre.

Businesses say the potential loss of the existing disc scheme will deter shoppers from visiting the town and income for smaller shops will drop dramatically.

Arun Council says it cannot afford to pay its share of cost for the free scheme, currently divided between itself, Littlehampton Town Council and Littlehampton Traders Partnership.

It suggests a cheaper double-throw ticket scheme where shoppers will be refunded the cost of their car parking ticket if they spend a certain amount of money in local shops. The cost of the maintaining the scheme would be about £12,000 a year compared to the current £62,500.

At the moment, people can come into the town and pick up a free disc which entitles them to two hours free parking at either St Martins or Anchor Springs car parks in the town centre. Arun pays £28,250 towards the cost which is matched by the town council and the traders contribute £6,000. But Barry Andrews, who runs a general store in the High Street, said the new scheme would be unfair and unworkable.

He said: "We rely on people coming in to browse and look around and spend their money at various shops in the town but if we now start charging them to come here, they are going to stop coming in. It is also unfair as some shops will probably have to pay out more than others depending on how close they are to the car parks."

Arun town centre spokesman Richard McMann said: "To date, we have no evidence that confirms or denies the effectiveness of the scheme." He said the double-throw ticket option is an incentive to spend, which can be good economically for the town.

An Arun economic regeneration and tourism committee will decide on Wednesday whether to go ahead with the new scheme.

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