Free festive parking will be introduced once again in Elgin in an attempt to boost footfall in the town centre.
For the past four years, Moray Council has run the “free after three” scheme to support traders during the run-up to Christmas.
Today the promotion to drop charges in the St Giles multi-storey car park after 3pm temporarily was backed by councillors.
Council leader Graham Leadbitter said: “This has been a feature of the Christmas shopping period since 2015.
“The feedback we get from businesses in the town is that it’s positive and they report additional spend in their shops.
“There is the usual warning about the impact on budgets but it seems to generate a lot of goodwill and there is a positive response about it.”
Council officers initially proposed for the initiative to start on November 30.
However, councillors backed a suggestion to extend the promotion to November 23 to include the traditional switch-on of the town’s Christmas lights.
Elgin is currently the only town in the region where pay and display car parks are in operation.
However, Mr Leadbitter agreed the promotion should be considered on a wider basis once proposals to introduce charges to other communities are confirmed.
Elgin City South councillor John Divers, who is a director of the town’s business improvement district, said: “The feedback we have got is that businesses take on staff after 3pm to deal with increased footfall.”
