Controversial Sunday parking charges in Walsall town centre have brought in less than £50,000 since coming in almost two years ago – prompting calls to scrap them.

The charges were today branded a deterrent to shoppers, with one councillor saying they were costing the council in lost trade.

Pleck Councillor Dennis Anson said he wants to see the town centre “buzzing” and called for parking charges to be lowered or abolished to draw more shoppers in.

Since the Sunday fees were introduced in September 2009, the council has so far collected £48,971.18 – an average of about £500 per Sunday.

Councillor Anson said: “I’ve always said from the start that we could afford to cut the prices to get more people into the town centre.

“There is a good deal of parking wardens. If we had free parking and not so many wardens we would make more money. You have places like Tesco that don’t charge anything.

“I want to see the town centre buzzing. We have to be competitive with other nearby towns and Birmingham.”

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