TOWN centre shoppers could soon see two hours of free parking return as par of Dudley Council’s latest budget proposals.

One hour free parking is currently available in all council-owned car parks, but bosses want to increase that to two hours – something that was successfully trialled last year.

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of the authority, made the promise to look into the option of two hours free parking after a motion put forward by UKIP councillor Paul Brothwood was passed at December’s full council meeting.

However, Labour councillor John Martin branded the pledge “all smoke and mirrors” and said it wouldn’t happen.

The move, which has been put forward as part of the continuing drive to boost the number of people visiting town centres and to support traders, is part of a raft of proposals which are set to be determined at the next full council meeting on February 26.

Councillor Karen Shakespeare, cabinet member for environmental services, said it shows the council is listening to local people about what is important to them.

She added: “We are currently offering free parking in our town centres for up to an hour, which we hope to increase to two hours in April after the budget is set next month.

“That means people will be able to shop for free for longer which is good news for them and for our traders.”

The free parking commitment is expected to cost the council about £700,000.

Cllr Harley said: “This has been on our wish list for a long time as we recognise how important this is to people visiting our town centres.

“Budgets allowed us to commit to one hour when we last looked at this, but since then we have looked for ways of increasing that to two hours after listening to local people.

“This is something we will be putting forward when we formally set the budget.”