Traders have welcomed a festive gesture of goodwill in the form of a free parking offer to help boost business in the run-up to Christmas.

Weymouth and Portland Borough Council is hoping locals and visitors can "make the most of the town" as there will be no charge at Weymouth’s town centre council-owned car parks from 3pm onwards every day during December.

The car parks will also be free all day on Saturday, December 1 for 'Small Business Saturday' –an initiative that highlights small business success and encourages people to use and support local independent shops and business.

Working closely with the BID and the events team, the borough council allocates five free days of parking a year to the town.

Four of these days were used at events earlier in the year including two for Armed Forces celebrations, one for Ironman, one for the recent Beach Motocross event and one on Portland for Masonic open day.

Cllr Colin Huckle, briefholder for Transport and Infrastructure, said: “We have thought carefully about how we use these free days within the bustling events calendar in Weymouth and Portland.

"I’m delighted that our town centre car parks are remaining free throughout the month of December after 3pm. This will allow locals and visitors to make the most of all our town has to offer.”

The news of free parking was met with an enthusiastic response by independent traders in the town centre.

Dennis Spurr, owner of the Fantastic Sausage Factory, said: "It's brilliant – having free parking will encourage people to do Christmas shopping in town and help boost trade for local businesses.

"Weymouth's got a real buzz about it at the moment - we had a really good day yesterday and our Christmas orders are up on last year. The free parking will hopefully improve things even more."

Paul and Liz Cox at St Alban Street Gallery welcomed the news.

Mrs Cox said: "It's jolly good they're doing it – I think it will help a lot.

"Parking is one of the biggest problems for this town, most people don't want to pay if they only need to buy one or two things."

Carl MacShilton, owner of Delicious delicatessen said: "It's good news – it all helps. It's good that the council wants to support locals and businesses but I do think they could do more.

"It would be better to have free parking all day on Saturdays, the same as Dorchester."

The news comes after it was announced that council-operated car parks and on-street parking in Dorchester will be free of charge all day on the last three Saturdays before Christmas, as well as on Christmas Eve.