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THE district council has always maintained that free parking is not the solution to all the problems faced in town centres. And, to an extent, they’re right.

But then they introduce a free parking offer each December, which we’ve all been enjoying as a bonus throughout September, and the town suddenly gets busier.

So it might not be the only solution but it is definitely a solution.

Ashbourne Town Team’s survey might have only canvassed a small number of people’s opinions, when you consider the size of the population of the town and the number of visitors we’ve seen arriving this year but its insights are incredibly important.

Not that we didn’t already know this, but we now have solid data to show that our parking fees and the lack of flexibility is affecting trade adversely. And we now also have proof that cheaper or free parking boosts trade.

According to the district council, offering free parking after 2pm in September would have cost around £45,000 in lost revenue – and, of course, that’s a big financial hole to fill.

But what if parking was a little bit cheaper? What if, like Belper, we offered a half-hour rate?

What if the survey’s outcomes were correct and these measures led to an increase in the number of people parking up? Would that not go some way to plugging the revenue gap?

It’s simple economics, surely. We could either charge a lot of money and have fewer people paying the high rates, or charge less money and have more people paying the lower rates.

And if business does improve, which the town team’s figures suggest it will, then any shortfall in parking revenue might just be made up in business rates as shops fill up again and traders prosper.

Either way, it’s going to become increasingly hard for the district council to tell us that cheaper or free parking doesn’t solve anything. Because now we know for sure that it does.