Banbury residents have started a petition to demand free parking in the town.

The petition calls for Cherwell District Council to grant one hour of free parking in their carparks to boost local businesses.

Petitioners say they have noticed a reduction in footfall and shoppers over the years, as people choose to go to the out-of-town retail parks instead.

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In the petition description on change.org it says: "We believe that by offering one hour free parking, the car parks will see an upturn in usage and bring more football to the town.

You can access the petition online here. 

“This in turn will increase the sales of the existing businesses, and see more investment in the town from new businesses wanting to open there.

“It will make Banbury more of a destination and see more people enjoying the newer aspects of the canal side redevelopment, as well as the historic old town area.”

This comes following the closure of a café in Banbury in February.

Rustic Bean café blamed a drop on visitor numbers partly on parking costs.

In a message to its customers, it said: "It's just not viable for us to stay open and, honestly, Banbury isn't the place to run a thriving business anymore."

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Chairman of Banbury's Old Town Association, Barry Whitehouse set up the petition.

Parking costs have increased in recent years from £3.50 a day to £5.

Mr Whitehouse described this as “quite a hike.”

He has previously contacted Cherwell District Council asking for parking charges to be reduced. 

A spokesman from the council said: "Council-run car parks in the Cherwell district are competitively priced, with benchmarking carried out against neighbouring towns in the area, and we have worked to make sure that our car parks remain more affordable than those run by other providers in Banbury."