A Pickering councillor has called for free parking to be introduced for residents and commuters - with charges remaining for tourists.

Coun Tom Bateman said parking charges for residents in the town should either be abolished or subsidised.

"They should not be paying more than tourists visiting the town; if anything the opposite should be the case," he said.

Meanwhile the town's mayor has suggested that a park and ride scheme in the town could relieve the pressure of traffic congestion.

Pickering Mayor Bill McCall said a park and ride schemes could be the answer to relieving traffic congestion in the town.

"This would mean a lot of people travelling into Pickering for work or to visit, would not have to fight to find a space in the town and we would have less traffic," he said.

Town councillors were discussing the car parking issue at their monthly meeting, and decided to keep the item on their agenda until February's meeting to give them more time to discuss the matter.

The debate centres around Ryedale District Council's Best Value Review of Car Parking which was released last month.

Councillors also decided that a suggestion in the policy document which could mean town councils taking over the running of car parking, would be disastrous.

But Coun Betsy Hill said free parking in Pickering was not an option because then the cost of running the car parks would have to be met by the council taxpayer.

"There is an option on the table that town councils will take over the responsibility of running car parking from Ryedale District Council but this would be an absolute disaster," she added.

Updated: 10:16 Wednesday, January 17, 2001