A POSITIVE start to 2009 has been predicted by traders in Colchester, after special car parking offers led to an increase in business.

Deals at the town’s car parks were initiated by the borough council earlier this month, in conjunction with the Colchester Retail and Business Association (Corba).

The move came after an Experian report showed that turnover in the town shops had increased by just one per cent since last year – a meagre amount compared to a 40 per cent rise in Chelmsford and a 20 per cent hike in Ipswich over the same period.

Corba spokesman Andrew Lubran said: “We came to the conclusion that the difference is down to parking problems in Colchester – it’s very expensive here and the car parks are often full.

“In the other towns there are park and ride schemes and their councils run shopping promotions.

“We felt we’d been left by the wayside in comparison.

“So we spoke to Colchester Council, who were very proactive and took our points on board.”

The authority’s parking services department took a tour of the car parks with members of Corba to look at solutions.

“We felt that the council were sitting on empty spaces because of peak-time charges,” said Mr Lubran, who runs Artasia in Crouch Street.

“That was where the idea of special offers came in.”

Since December 9, shoppers have been able to take advantage of deals like afternoon and evening parking at St Mary’s, where leaving the car costs a flat rate of £2 as long as the motorist arrives after 2pm and leaves after 7pm.

Mr Lubran says the deals have been very successful so far, with the extra shoppers making a difference at the tills.

“We are really pleased,” he said.

“We’re also happy that the partnership between Corba and Colchester Council is working so well.

“Hopefully this time next year our Experian rating will be much higher.”

He added: “Everyone is feeling very positive that things are on the up.”

Colchester Council’s parking services manager Richard Walker added that tickets had increased by 5.79 per cent from last November for the same month this year.

This is a bigger increase than Ipswich, which saw a four per cent rise, and substantially more than Chelmsford, which dropped by five per cent.

He said: “December 2008 is also predicted to be above the level of use in 2007.”

For details of the special offers, visit colchester.gov.uk and go to the parking pages.