Shoppers will be able to take advantage of free parking in town centres on selected dates in the run up to Christmas.

The council will be suspending parking charges on Saturday 16th and 23rd December on all council controlled car parks.

There will be a further full day of free parking to coincide with Christmas light switch-on events, in Halesowen (Saturday 18th November), Stourbridge (Saturday 25th November), Dudley (Saturday 2nd December) and Brierley Hill (Saturday 9th December). Kingswinford and Sedgley will also have an additional free parking day on Saturday 9th December.

The proposals come on the back of the recent introduction of free parking for stays up to one hour in all council-run car parks. Council bosses intend to make free parking a permanent offer in the borough from next April, as part of the budget setting process. Councillor Karen Shakespeare, cabinet member for environmental services, said:

“We always offer free parking in our town centres in the run up to Christmas in order to help boost footfall for our hard-working traders and to encourage people to support their local towns during the festive period. This year, we’re planning to offer free parking all day on Saturdays to coincide with the Christmas lights switch on events for each of our larger town centres.

“This, alongside our standard free parking for stays of up to one hour in all council-run car parks, is yet another way in which we are showing we have listened to businesses and shoppers to help make their trips to town as convenient and beneficial as possible.”

For information on current parking tariffs in Dudley Council car parks people can visit www.dudley.gov.uk/resident/parking-roads.