A shake-up of car parking charges has been proposed by Carmarthenshire County Council.

It runs 67 car parks and said it wants a more simple system than currently.

A council report has now made two main recommendations: a simplified tariff structure including a reduced tariff for rural areas; or a uniform £1 per hour tariff across all chargeable car parks with no distinction between urban and rural locations.

The report said four other things could also be considered: introducing one hour free parking across chargeable car parks; discontinuing existing free parking periods; removing free parking days offered to town councils; and aligning Ammanford with Carmarthen and Llanelli as a principal town within the tariff structure.

“The vision is to deliver a simple, fair and sustainable parking strategy that is consistent, accessible, efficiently managed and financially resilient, supported by evidence and to be responsive to local needs,” it said.

There was a lot for members of the place, sustainability and climate change scrutiny committee to take on board when they discussed the report and concerns were raised about Ammanford, where parking tariffs are slightly lower than in Carmarthen and Llanelli, aligning with these two towns as it was smaller and had less footfall.

Some councillors didn’t like the prospect of town councils losing the current perk of having up to five free parking days per year, which often coincided with special events. The report said footfall increases on those days were more likely because of the events rather than the free parking.

Councillors also felt protective of current free parking offers at certain times in certain towns. The report said analysis showed these offers had little or no measurable impact on town centre footfall.

“The introduction of one-hour free parking would align with observed parking behaviour and provide a simple, consistent benefit available every day rather than at specific times or dates,” it said.

“Should this approach be adopted, the rationale for retaining separate free parking periods and town council free parking days is significantly reduced, as the primary parking incentive would already be available to residents and visitors throughout the year.”

Cllrs Colin Evans and Kevin Madge said the proposals should be shared with town and community councils before any decisions were made.

Daniel John, the council’s head of environmental infrastructure, said feedback from town councils relating to a separate consultation about ways of making Ammanford, Carmarthen and Llanelli thrive had identified parking as a key issue. He said that feedback had fed into the new parking proposals under consideration.

It’s still early days and a report will go before cabinet before any decisions are made.

Cllr Lewis Davies suggested the committee should recommend to cabinet a simplified tariff structure including a reduced tariff for rural areas, plus an hour’s free parking, the ending of free parking periods but the retention of free parking days.

It was seconded before a further suggestion was made that the report should be shared with town and community councils. A majority of the committee voted in favour.