Published: Wednesday, 25th November, 2009 4:48pm

Kells looks at free parking for Christmas shoppers

by Ann Casey

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The possibility of free parking in Kells in the run-up to the Christmas period will be considered this week when Kells Town Council starts discussions on the budget for next year.

At a meeting of the council last week, Cllr Sarah Reilly and Cllr Bryan Reilly both had proposals on the agenda calling for free parking. Cllr Sarah Reilly called on the council to forego parking charges for the month of December and Cllr Bryan Reilly called for free parking in the week leading up to Christmas.

The former said the level of unemployment in Kells was a major concern and she wanted to improve the situation. "Many other town councils across the country will be providing this lifeline to local businesses this year. It is a proactive step that can be taken to help the survival of the dwindling number of local businesses in our town," she said.

"We need to give people an incentive to come into Kells because of increased competition from the North and even from Navan, where they will be giving free parking on the week before Christmas," she said. "We need to let people know that Kells is open for business."

The Fine Gael councillor said the two weeks before Christmas was crucial and she believed that free parking should apply for the whole month of December.

Cllr Bryan Reilly said that Kells needed to give people a reason to come to the town, rather than an excuse to go elsewhere. He pointed out that he had proposed a similar motion three years previously and it had worked successfully.