Local authorities must rethink their attitude to town centre parking in order to help small businesses, one industry body has urged.
According to the Federation of Small Businesses (FPB), excessive parking chargers are "killing town centres".
Roger Culcheth, FSB local government chairman said: "Every town is different and you can't impose exactly the same parking policies everywhere. But local authorities should come up with a set of criteria for parking policies that encourage shoppers into town centres rather than turning them away."
He added that while parking charges can provide short-term revenue, they can have an adverse impact on the health of the local economy in the long-term.
Parking costs and huge fines must be done away with entirely, he urged.
Earlier this week, the Forum of Private Businesses urged local government to do more to support small retailers.
It said that the domination of supermarkets risks the creation of "urban food deserts", where poor people will not have accesses to reasonably priced goods.
