AN ALTERNATIVE parking scheme in Newport is gathering cross-party support after the former cabinet member in charge of parking gave it his backing.

David Fouweather, Conservative councillor for Allt-yr-yn, said the parking voucher scheme seemed sensible.

Under the proposed scheme, pitched by Argus editor Kevin Ward, people would be rewarded for shopping in the city centre by having their £1 parking charge refunded.

Shoppers would get a token for spending over a certain amount in local stores, with traders setting the amount that would need to be spent for car parking to be refunded.

It comes as the council is set to axe the two-year-old scheme which allows shoppers to park free of charge in council-run city centre car parks for the first two hours of their stay.

The decision sparked our campaign to Keep City Parking Free, with more than 4,000 people signing petitions so far, urging the council to reverse its decision.

Cllr Fouweather said: “I think it is a sensible solution to the budget issues.

“Anything that gets people into the city centre and helps traders is great.

“If shoppers spend enough then their parking is free, and that would be good for traders too, so hopefully everybody wins.

“It’s a solution which would help traders and also get this Labour administration out of a hole.”

Cllr Fouweather did say his preference would still be to keep the free parking scheme, but accepted the voucher scheme could work as a compromise.

“I still think they should have left it alone until the newdevelopment is in place.

“Now they’ve closed the Cambrian car park they should be looking for a parking solution for that end of town now too,” he said.