PLANS to form a working group looking into parking in Paisley have been rubber-stamped by councillors. 

Members of Renfrewshire Council’s SNP, Labour and Conservative groups will be joined by other stakeholders as they consider proposals put forward by Paisley First.

Elected members agreed the formation of the group at Wednesday’s Leadership Board.

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Paisley First has been campaigning for three hours of free parking on weekdays.

The proposals aim to allow visitors time to shop and run errands, while deterring commuters from dropping their car off and taking the train elsewhere.

Paisley First, Piazza, the Paisley Centre, Network Rail and the University of the West of Scotland have now been invited to take part in the working group to consider the proposals.

Councillor Iain Nicolson, leader of Renfrewshire Council, said: “We want to encourage more people to visit Paisley to increase footfall for our local businesses and ensuring that parking is available is one way to make this happen.

“The new working group will bring together all the key partners to ensure we gain a breadth of views and all possible ideas are brought to the table, while most importantly making the right decisions for the benefit of the area.

The Gazette: Cllr Iain Nicolson Cllr Iain Nicolson

“Through these discussions, we aim to find ways to encourage more people to visit the town centre and we will look at all possible improvements to entice people to visit Paisley.

“We are always happy to engage with local partners, and especially with our local businesses, to make positive changes and the working group will allow the best provision for the town centre to be identified and implemented.”

Meanwhile, Renfrewshire Council has been awarded Scottish Government funding to install electric charging points in public car parks throughout the local authority.

This would see 26 charging spaces appear this year at the Lagoon Leisure Centre and in car parks at Bridge Street, New Sneddon Street and Hunter Street.These proposed locations will also be discussed by the working group.

Four disabled parking bays will be created in car parks in Hunter Street, School Wynd, Oakshaw and Maxwell Street.

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These would be implemented through the promotion of a permanent Traffic Regulation Order.

There are 19 council-run car parks in Paisley town centre, providing 1,015 spaces with a further 235 on-street parking bays. 

A total of 838 spaces in the town centre are privately operated, consisting of 530 spaces at the Paisley Centre and 338 at the Piazza Centre.

There are 75 park and ride spaces at Paisley Gilmour Street station.