Long-serving county councillor Des English has welcomed cross-party opposition to plans to install parking meters across Cumbria.
Labour-led Cumbria County Council has said it intends to install meters throughout the county - but Cllr Kevin Hamilton, Labour chairman of the Barrow local committee has joined Cllr English and other Conservative county councillors in calling for a rethink on the controversial plan, first mooted in 2015.
Cllr English, who is the Conservative county councillor for Dalton South, said: "The town centre is fragile enough as it is, without forcing people away with parking meters.
"My Conservative colleagues and I have been fighting this hard since it was proposed in 2015 and I am pleased that the Labour councillors appear now to be supporting us with our objections."
Cllr English has a track record of supporting local town centre traders. A retired business owner, well-known throughout the area for his Aerialek company, he knows first-hand how important it is that the council does all it can to support town centre traders.
In summer 2018, working with fellow Conservative Barrow borough councillor Gordon Murray, Cllr English was instrumental in pushing back the council's plans to turn parking spaces in Market Street, Dalton, into a taxi rank.
Cllr English said: "We need to do more to support our local businesses and traders."
