QUESTIONS are being raised about the possibility of introducing charging at Nailsea's town centre car parks. Nailsea Town Council is to write to North Somerset Council asking it to clarify whether it plans to charge people for using the town's car parks.

QUESTIONS are being raised about the possibility of introducing charging at Nailsea's town centre car parks.Nailsea Town Council is to write to North Somerset Council asking it to clarify whether it plans to charge people for using the town's car parks.The move follows concern about future moves to decriminalise parking and the hand over of responsibility for parking enforcement from the police to the local authority.No timescale for the handover has been pencilled in, but North Somerset council said it will not happen before the summer of 2008.Parking charges across the district differ, with visitors to Weston and Clevedon having to pay and those visiting Nailsea and Portishead enjoying free parking.In Clevedon, people using the Salthouse and Hawthorns car parks have to pay £1 an hour to leave their cars.Nailsea Town Council clerk Ian Morrell said: "Car parking charges are being introduced in other parts of North Somerset and the town council wants to know if North Somerset Council has any plans to do so in Nailsea. "The town council can then discuss the matter and decide on its policy."Currently Nailsea's car parks, with the exception of the Stock Way South car park, which is owned by the Town Centre Company, are owned by North Somerset Council and jointly managed by Nailsea Town Council.The council owned car parks in Station Road and Link Road all offer free parking with a time limit of three hours.The Clevedon Road car park offers free long stay spaces.A North Somerset Council spokesman said: "In the long term, parking charges in the district are going to be reviewed as part of the decriminalisation of parking. "There are no plans to make any changes in the short term." Nailsea Town Council chairman Marston Dufty said: "The town council is concerned about the overall impact which car parking charges may have and it is as a result of this that we have been prompted to investigate what may lie ahead in the future.