'MUCH needed' free parking in a Flintshire town has come a step closer .

Flintshire Council recently offered Buckley 30 minutes of year-round free parking for the 18 spaces, plus four disabled spaces, in the town's Brunswick Road short stay car park.

The Leader reported previously how town councillors called on the county council to provide an extra 30 minutes on to of that - at the town council's expense.

A spokesman for Buckley Town Council told the Leader that at a special meeting held on Tuesday night, Flintshire Council's chief officer for streetscene and transportation Steve Jones agreed to recommend his authority's cabinet approve the request.

It was also agreed at the meeting that a project group will be put together to explore the possibility of depedestrianising the town centre as well as other initiatives, such as the potential installation of a layby for resident parking in order to address traffic congestion in Mill Lane.

The project group will be made up of representatives from Flintshire Council, local businesses and representatives of Buckley Town Council - including cllrs David Ellis, Emma Preece, Ian Peters and Richard Jones.

Buckley Mayor Cllr Arnold Woolley told the Leader: "Times change and attitudes change - if you don't try, you'll never know the results.

"Whether this trial - and it is a trial - continues, we would welcome the hour of free parking for patrons, but the matter of reopening the pedestrian area to traffic is going to be a purely experimental one and it has to be decided in the end by the population of the town as a whole.

"There's a process that has to be worked through, the public will be consulted fully and the whole thing will be carefully monitored step by step."

Cllr Wooley added that while the free parking "can do no harm", he hopes the car park would see a healthy turnover of visitors throughout the day and feels it would need to be enforced carefully in order to stop people taking advantage of it.

Cllr Emma Preece, who is one of the four councillors on the new project group, said: "I have always been fully behind free parking - whether it is half an hour or an hour, we need it.

"There's definitely been a decline since the parking charges were enforced.

"Steve Jones said in the meeting that as a project group our remit would not just be depedestrianisation, it will also be looking at other potential schemes.

"So it would be great if members of the public want to get in touch if they have ideas we can include."

Anyone who has ideas they wish to share with Cllr Preece can contact her by email (elpreece8@gmail.com) or phone: 01244 529562.

A Flintshire Council spokesman said: "Following on from a previous meeting at Buckley Town Council attended by the Deputy Leader Cllr Carolyn Thomas and Chief Officer Steve Jones, where it was agreed to work together positively to find solutions for the regeneration of Buckley.

"At the meeting the Town Council requested that the short stay car parking spaces in Brunswick Road car park should be limited to an hour’s stay and not the half hour offered by the County Council, with the Town Council offering to fund the income for the additional period.

"As a result a report will be presented to December’s Cabinet meeting by the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Streetscene, supporting the proposal which will provide welcome free short stay car parking to the town.  

"The Chief Officer suggested that a project group be set up involving Traders, Town Councillors, Flintshire County Council officers and supported by the Cabinet Members for Streetscene and Regeneration when necessary.

"The Group would look at ideas for a pilot depedestrianisation scheme and other highway issues throughout the town centre area, including the parking issues on Mill Lane."