Free street parking in Devizes will come under the spotlight when Wiltshire Council has a consultation on its car parks.

Wiltshire deputy leader John Thomson said this week that an option for every parking area controlled by the council will be contained in a document due to be released on November 10.

The council has produced a major profile for each town, detailing housing, employment, shopping trends and parking.

In Devizes, shoppers can park for an hour for free in a number of town centre roads and for half an hour in the Market Place.

Coun Thomson said he was worried about empty spaces in bigger car parks on the edge of the town and had suggested that could improve if there was less free on-street parking.

He said small, under-used car parks, such as the one in Castle Grounds, could be sold. The survey shows Couch Lane car park has an average use of 15 per cent, compared with West Central’s average of 91 per cent usage.

Station Road has an average of 34 per cent and Sainsbury’s 59 per cent, according to a survey carried out over three days. No figures were shown for the Castle Grounds car park.

Anthony Brown, president of Devizes Chamber of Commerce, said he hoped parking would not be overly changed in the town.

He said: “We need a mix of parking and that should include the free on-street parking. We are unlikely to get the hour free parking back in the Market Place, but people have got used to the half hour.”

He said the chamber had a preliminary discussion about parking, but would be fully involved in the consultation.

Mr Thomson said it was vital for the council to have a healthy income from parking, in order to subsidise rural buses.

The survey also reveals shopping trends. The town centre has an annual turnover of £44.8 million, with Morrisons making up £26.4 million.

More than 70 per cent of supermarket turnover comes from people living in Devizes, where 15.3 per cent of households do not have access to a car. The national average is 26 per cent.