OLD Town traders are to ask the council if it can relax parking restrictions in a bid to boost trade in the area.

Earlier this year, a campaign was launched to introduce free-parking and very quickly received a lot of support, with more than 1,000 people backing their Facebook page.

Tomorrow a number of business owners will attend a Swindon council cabinet meeting to put the suggestion to council leaders.

Kris Talikowski, who owns The Core juice bar in Devizes Road, is heading up the campaign and is hopeful councillors will see their point of view.

“There will be a group of us going down to ask some questions and see if something can be done,” said Kris.

“We have raised the issue with the public and got a huge response.

“What we want to see is two hours of free parking in a lot of car parks across Old Town."

“A lot of us believe this would encourage people to browse when they come to Old Town, rather than just quickly visiting one place.

“Most places in Swindon have somewhere to park for an amount of time for free with the exception of Old Town.

“There are even places in the town centre where you can park free for an hour.

“The only alternative in Old Town are residential roads which is something we don’t want to encourage.”

The campaign was set up in June following the closure of hairdressers Talk Of The Town and the Cakes And Ale cafe.

Old Town is seen by many as a unique shopping destination, with many individual shops and few well known high street names.

Kris believes this acts as a big draw for people from outside of Swindon, but the parking charges can put people off.

“A lot of people see parking as a nuisance and quite off-putting,” said Kris, who is part of the Old Town Business Association.

“You need the change and then are worried about parking times.

“Old Town is not a primarily a retail destination like the town centre, where people stay for long periods of time. Most people could get what they need to do in Old Town within two hours, so taking these worries away could act as a big incentive to people.

“One possibility would be a six-month trial period to see how it works. We could then compare figures to see if there has been an improvement in footfall.”