A TWO-storey car park on the Swannery site and a reduction in the number of smaller parking areas could get the go-ahead in Weymouth.

A steering group also wants the borough council to operate a land train to ferry motorists into the town centre.

The move is aimed at cleaning up the image of Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, which currently takes in more than £3 million a year from parking.

The steering group of six councillors launched the parking review because of a widely held public view that raising parking charges was the easy option to raise revenue for the council'.

And their report - set to be discussed by the Scrutiny and Performance Committee on Wednesday - claims the council must now meet conflicting demands of maximising revenue and providing reasonably priced parking spaces.

It says levelling out prices would stop drivers roaming for the cheapest car park, and computerised signs could direct traffic to spaces.

The group also claims there are too many small car parks in the town centre' and suggests replacing them with multi-storey parking.

And the report states 29 council-managed car parks in Weymouth and Portland bring in a whopping £2.75 million a year, with on-street parking raking in a further £620,000.

It recommends:

  • Increasing the capacity of the Swannery car park, perhaps by adding an extra storey, at which time smaller off-street car parks in the central area might be released for development.
  • Introducing a land-train or similar shuttle service to transport people from the car parks into the centre.
  • Providing computerised messaging signs.

The group also suggests the council should look into scrapping overnight charges, amalgamating all zones so there is only one type of residents' permit and allowing hotels and restaurants to pay for exclusive use of some car park spaces.

The parking review will be discussed at a meeting of the Scrutiny and Performance Committee at the North Quay Council Offices, starting at 6.30pm on Wednesday.