THERE will be free parking in council-owned car parks during three Saturdays leading up to the festive season.

Sedgemoor District Council (SDC) is offering free parking in all of its car parks on December 4, 11 and 18.

The free parking is to support traders in towns and villages across Sedgemoor during Christmas.

"Especially given the additional impacts of Covid-19 on the local economy, we are keen to support our many local and varied traders in the towns and villages across Sedgemoor and give residents and visitors an added incentive to shop locally in the festive season," said a spokesperson for SDC.

"There will be notices on the tariff machines in the car parks advising of the free parking."

SDC owns and operates 18 car parks across the district, with a total of 1,691 parking spaces.

SDC relies on income from the car park to help pay for the cost of running the car parks such as business rates; CCTV; cleaning; looking after the shrubbery; repairs and maintenance to the tarmac; white-lining; maintenance/replacement of ticket machines; insurance and electricity costs for the lighting.