MEmbers of the Association of Ross Traders have ordered new signs for the car parks in Ross.

The signs will point drivers to the car parks and indicate how many minutes people have to walk from them to the town centre. They will also show how many spaces there are available in each car park.

ART thinks it is vital for visitors to have as much information about parking as possible, as this avoids parking tickets and makes a visit to the town more enjoyable.

Over the years parking has been one of the most contentious issues in Ross. Shoppers want to be able to park near to the places they visit but at the moment waiting is restricted to 30 minutes.

Some members of ART think this could be extended but others say if people want to park for 45 minutes or an hour they should really be encouraged to use car parks.

One of the biggest problems for visitors to the town is trying to locate a convenient car park

Anyone entering along Gloucester Road would know they were near to the shopping area but have no idea how to get to a car park. Also because of the one way system they would have to navigate around the town although they would end up in a parking space very close to the shops.

Ross is actually well catered for regarding parking spaces. Wilton Road Car park has nearly 300 spaces and parking is free all day. This is the ideal place for visitors to park if they wish to visit the riverside or intend to spend the full day in and around the town.

The Corn Exchange, Red Meadow, Crossfields, The Maltings and Edde Cross Street car parks are designed to be used for short term parking. It costs 40p for one hour, rising to £1 for three hours but £2.80 for over four hours.

Homs Road is 70p all day, parking in the two Kings Acre car parks are 80p all day and Kyrle Street is £1 all day.

The amount of spaces compares very favourably with other market towns such as Bromyard which only has 67 spaces. And compared with the price of parking in some town centres it is abundant and reasonable.

Local photographer Philip Price has asked ART to publicise the benefits of a website called Parkopedia.

It lists all of the car parks in town on an interactive map. On top of that people can also upload available street and off road parking and time limits. Philip has already started and has very kindly offered to research and upload all the street parking and times around town. He would like traders to let him knowwhere the spaces are and what the time limits are.

Richard Mayo, ART Chairman said:?"If we could get total town coverage of all available parking, fewer visitors to the town might get parking tickets. We all know that people are using their internet phones more and more when out and about and websites like parkopedia are becoming a must for tourists, shoppers and visitors alike."

He also suggested that members could put a link to parkopedia on their websites.