The people behind Truro Bid have expressed their disappointment after the city became the only commercial centre in Cornwall to have evening parking charges.

From today motorists will have to pay for all Cornwall council owned car parks between 9am and midnight with a ยฃ2.20 charge if they park from 6pm.

Earlier this year it was announced that the council was introducing new parking zones with different charges according to how busy the area is.

Cornwall Councilโ€™s 135 pay and display and pay on foot car parks will continue to be grouped into one of three โ€˜zonesโ€™ with Zone A being the busiest areas which are well served by public transport and walking and cycle routes.

Posting on Facebook, Truro BID said it was very disappointed by the new charges.

"We are really disappointed that in spite of consulting with communities back in March, Truro will have increased short stay parking tariffs & lose free evening parking in Cornwall Council Car Parks from today, Wednesday 31 May," it said.

This means that there will be parking charges in Truro between 9am and midnight, with a charge of ยฃ2ย if parking between 6pm to midnight. Plus the new short stay tariffs for Cornwall Council Car Parks in Truro have increased to: - Up to 30 minutes (where applicable) ยฃ1.30 - Up to 1 hour - ยฃ2.20 - 1 to 2 hours - ยฃ4.40 - 2 to 3 hours - ยฃ5.50.

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"We are very disappointed with these changes and have contacted Cornwall Council several times as we still believe the new parking charges and loss of free evening parking will have a very negative impact on the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors," they said.

"Truro is now the only town in Cornwall where all Cornwall Council Car Parks will have charges between 6pm to midnight all year around."

However they said that the Multi-use tickets, available via Just Park are now reduced to ยฃ2.50 for each 24 hour session (currently cost ยฃ4).

For details see: www.cornwall.gov.uk/justpark