A group of councillors from the Shepton Mallet area are asking private car park operators to match the free parking currently available in council car parks in the town.

Barry O'Leary, Chris Inchley, Edric Hobbs, Garfield Kennedy, Sam Phripp and Josh Burr have written to Haskins and UKPC, who run the car park at the Townsend Retail Park, to ask them to allow shoppers to park there without any parking fees or limits, to enable Shepton Mallet businesses to recover from the coronavirus crisis.

They said: "We are all local councillors and like our friends and neighbours use Shepton as the main to do our groceries, go to the post office, the local bank or support smaller stores offering a variety of needed local services.

"We are calling on the owners of the two large private car parks in the town to commit to match the same charge free period as the local district council has.

"We are concerned that the present confusion will hit high street businesses in the town – undoing the good the Mendip Parking Charges Holiday scheme has done.

"We are writing as Mendip district councillors to ask private car park operators to review their charges and penalties in order to make shopping in Shepton simple and remove the confusion at present.

"We all agree that for the sites owned by Haskins and Townsend Shopping Centres to continue to charge beyond a very limited free period will disadvantage the town in these challenging times.

"The recently introduced free period parking in Mendip district-owned car parks has been a great success, in that the usage figures have gone up significantly. This must be good for the town, getting more people into the centre and helping business trade.

"Free parking is an important part of a temporary relief in supporting Shepton shops and businesses, and it would significantly simplify everyone's lives if private car operators could remove any charges up to August 6 to match the Mendip district scheme.

"We fear confusion is badly hitting both shoppers and local business but most importantly hit the vitality of Shepton town centre.

"We also believe the hassle of parking fees alone continue to repel shoppers or those who want to attend the restored Shepton Friday Market.

"Presently most shoppers are reluctant to interact with any on site machines. In the case of one local operator the charges were just introduced as lockdown occurred.

"Keeping parking simple, for this specific period, would be a significant helping hand and would mean the bigger stores would be acting as great champions of a safe return to the high street.

"We support Mendip council's temporary lifting of its parking charges, and it would help significantly if the large privately owned car parks in Shepton would do the same joining this initiative which lasts until August 6.

"We note that, while these car parks do offer a grace period, due to social distancing a normal shopping trip now takes significantly longer, so we are asking for a little imagination to offer shoppers an assurance and end confusion.

"People can make purchases in the town and transact business without having the hassle of paying for parking.

"Joining in our Fair Parking pledge would add significantly to the sustainability of many of our businesses and the jobs of employees by removing a further hurdle in front of potential customers.

"It will encourage them to Shop Shepton. We as Mendip councillors want to see as so much as possible done to encourage businesses to trade and thrive as well as to support the town centre."

Haskins and UKPC have been approached for comment.