TRADERS in Darlington are drawing up plans to bring shoppers back to the covered market.

A band of traders have called for the re-introduction of car parking in the market place in a bid to boost trade.

Mike Evers, who owns Cafe Caffae, and is at the forefront of the campaign, believes short stay parking would provide a much-needed fillip to the flagging market.

He said such an initiative could also prove useful to Darlington Borough Council in continuing its programme of town centre entertainment.

"It really needs to go back to what it was, the market needs better access.

"I think that if we had a maximum stay of two hours at a cost of about £2 then people would definitely come back and use it.

"If the council still wanted to hold events like the Orange Festival or things like the Queen tribute concert then it could close the car park for the day."

Mr Evers, who has so far received the backing of five traders, estimates the authority can recoup about £50,000 per year through reopening of parking facilities, cash which could then be ploughed into arranging more concerts and community events.

The market place car park was closed about eight years ago, after the borough council managed to attract European funding to turn the area into an attractive town centre square.

One person who has noticed a steady decline in market attendance is chairman of the Darlington Retail Market Stallholders' Association, Charles Smith, who ran a newsagents in the covered market for over 20 years.

"We have compared ourselves to a supermarket in the past because we offer similar goods but we don't have the same parking facilities," he said.

"We want parking to be re-instated to bring some vitality back to this part of the town."

A spokesman for Darlington Borough Council said: "We have no plans to turn it back into a car park and there's not been any inquiries along this line.