Traders in Cardigan may worry about rates but it is access that concerns their customers.

Cardigan Traders chairman Keith Davies says that it is parking that poses the most problems for shoppers in town.

"It is ease of access, that's all they are worried about," he said.

He voiced disappointment that Ceredigion County Council have refused to consider the town council's idea of free parking for two hours.

"I have just come back from visiting my daughter in Sandbach in Cheshire where all parking in the town is free for the first two hours," he said.

"It was telling that there were no empty shops in the high street."

Sandbach is a town roughly the size of Cardigan where more than 400 car parking spaces are free.

A notice on the town website states:

"There is no intention to introduce any new controls or any form of charges or permits in the town.

This is the result of a Parking Review in consultation with Sandbach Town Council and local business groups earlier in the year."

* Cardigan town councillors are to write to every town in the county asking whether they would like to see two hours free parking in their communities.