BUSINESSES in Falmouth are being asked to provide feedback on how well the free parking in February initiative is being received.

The Falmouth Business Improvement District (BID) is financing free parking in The Dell and Quarry car parks each Wednesday in February.

There are plans to offer more free car parking days, but the success of the inaugural scheme has to be gauged first.

BID manager Richard Wilcox told a meeting of the Association of Falmouth Traders: "This is the first time such a scheme has been done in Cornwall in this way.

"We have to try to keep track of how it goes and I ask you to give me as much feedback as possible.

"In terms of evaluation, it is quite difficult to measure on the basis of cars in the car parks so I am relying on traders to give me as much information as possible.

"The intention is to do more of these free car parking initiatives, but we need to get it right."

Town manager Richard Gates added: "We want to encourage people to walk through the town. It would be lovely to do all the car parks, but we have to be realistic."

Mr Wilcox agreed: "Budget will dictate how much we can do. The reason for doing this on Wednesdays is that I am basing it on the majority of feedback I got from e-mails and these meetings.

"It seemed to be the day that would help most. There is no point doing it on Saturdays if that is a robust day anyway.

"It would be good to get an idea of the percentage increase seen by businesses and how much awareness of the scheme there has been."

There is no need to redeem tickets, simply park and go.

However, as part of the West Briton's Go To Town! campaign, all Cornwall Council car parks in Falmouth and Penryn will be free on the last day of the month.