PARKING charges in Ryde could be reconsidered, following an Isle of Wight Council debate on the plans.

Almost the entire council voted to reconsider the charges, after a petition of 3,851 signatures was put before last night’s full council meeting by Ryde town councillor, Karen Lucioni.

Cllrs Ian Ward and John Nicholson abstained from the vote.

Cllr Lucioni said no other petition had seen such a response in such a short space of time.

She said: “We are a commuter town — one of the many gateways to our Island and first impressions count. We do not want the image of our Island blighted by a high street full of closed shops.

“Parking charges will badly affect the town centre and lead to closures.

“We need to be supporting our shops and local businesses.”

A number of Isle of Wight councillors spoke in favour of reconsidering the charges, including Cllrs Adrian Axford and Wayne Whittle.

Cllr Axford said: “Our shops are already suffering too much competition from out of town shopping centres and online shopping.”

Ward councillor for Newport East, Cllr Geoff Brodie also spoke about the impact of parking charges in Newport.

He said: “It’s time Newport was treated fairly, alongside all the other towns on the Isle of Wight.

“I am sure we could something entirely similar [to the petition] in Newport, but we decided not to.”

Under the latest budget plans, parking charges could be levvied in key locations — such as Nodehill and Crocker Street in Newport and Union Street in Ryde.

However, the council has said another option would be to make Union Street a single parking zone. Currently the street is divided into four zones, which councillors said provided a ‘loophole’ allowing people to park on the street all day for free.

Currently, 65 per cent of all parking income is generated in Newport.

Council leader, Cllr Dave Stewart, said: “It’s one of the benefits of bringing this budget out early that has enabled such feedback to be received.”