FREE weekend parking is being rolled out by Carlisle City Council in an effort to boost the city's economy.

After a marathon five-and-a-half hour budget meeting, the proposal - along with free bank holiday parking and a charge reduction for the first hour of parking at other times - was voted through.

Labour city councillors opposed the plan because it was part of a broader Tory-led package of budget measures that rejected opposition amendments designed to help locals hit by the cost of living crisis.

The new charging regime - which is not yet in force - will apply to all City Council car parks. As well as the free weekend parking, the weekday cost of the first hour of parking is being cut from £1.30 to £1.

Officials calculate abolishing weekend parking charges will come with an annual cost in lost revenue of £125,000 - but that sum is regarded as an investment in post-pandemic economic regeneration for Carlisle, says the City Council's Deputy Leader Gareth Ellis.

"We see it as an investment," he told the News & Star.

"The Council is supposed to serve the city and its interests and that's what this change does.

"The aim is to stimulate the Carlisle economy.

"The key to any successful business in the city centre is footfall - the more people there are going into the city the more people there will be going into the shops, using services and buying goods.

"It's about getting as many people as possible into the city.

"We've seen a residual effect from covid, with people almost frightened to take that first step and get back to normality.

"This is part of that getting back to normality - encouraging people to get back into our city.

"This change also means we can deploy the staff who would have been enforcing parking charges at weekends across the city centre and in our main parks to clamp down on litter and dog fouling."

The measure covers an estimated 1,500 car parking spaces in Carlisle. The change is likely to come into effect in April following the necessary legal processes involved.

Carlisle City Council's Labour Leader Les Tickner said he and his Labour colleagues voted against the overall Tory budget package, but in principle were not opposed to the free weekend parking plan.

"People have never complained about parking charges in Carlisle being expensive," he said. "It's really cheap here compared to the rest of the country, so it was never really an issue.

"It costs me £3 a day to park in Carlisle; if I park in Newcastle it costs £12 per day. We'd support the [free weekend parking] proposal provided they monitor it to see if it produces the results they expect it to.

"We voted against the budget as a whole because the Tories voted down [Labour] amendments, including ones which would have helped people who are struggling to pay their bills, and one to give money to community centres to protect them.

"We felt that they hadn't considered what's happening to people facing rising fuel prices and the national insurance tax hike."

More should be done to encourage the use of public transport and combat climate crisis and that was ultimately more important than free weekend car parking, added Mr Tickner.

Mr Ellis said that the City Council and Cumbria County Council were presently pursuing "substantial" Government-funded infrastructure improvements to promote cycling and walking across the Carlisle area.

There are currently 37 sitting Carlisle city councillors. They comprise 19 Conservatives, 13 Labour councillors, one Liberal Democrat, one Green, and a small number of independent councillors. There are currently two vacant council seats.