A BUSINESS owner based at Winsford Market made a passionate and heartfelt plea at the monthly meeting of Winsford Town Council this week.

Georgina Lockett, who owns the floristry Georgina’s Incredible Blooms, told the council that the town and its traders were being ‘crippled’ by the lack of parking.

This comes after last week’s front page story highlighted concerns over parking at the back of Winsford Market as more drivers have started to get fines.

Georgina said: “I’m really concerned about the state of the parking that is happening in Winsford at the moment.

“Nobody seems to know what’s going on with it. For more than 30 years we have been able to park at the back of Winsford Market and now all of a sudden, people are being slapped with tickets.

“I am there as a stall holder – as a new business, and I’m getting no help whatsoever with this.

“The town is being crippled – it feels like it’s in a vice. You’ve got stores closing down because there is no parking at the back of the market. If you wanted to buy a carpet, how can you be expected to carry it to the multi-storey car park?

“We need that parking back – it would be a true lifeline for the market.

“It’s supposed to be saved for turning lorries, but I have not once seen a lorry turn around there.

“Why can’t we have time allotted bays? I’m disgusted about it and that’s not just from a business owner’s point of view. Everybody is suffering from it.”

After listening to Georgina’s concerns about the parking issues - a topic which was already listed for discussion on the agenda, before the stallholder brought it up in the public forum - town mayor, Cllr Mike Kennedy proposed a motion to make a recommendation to Cheshire West and Chester Council.

The recommendation is to introduce 30-minute allocated parking. The motion to make the recommendation was passed by the council.