Parking in Potton is set to be transformed under new plans which councillors hope will create more space for people who want to use the town centre.

At an extraordinary meeting of Potton Town Council on Tuesday, councillors discussed plans to merge the parking zones in the Market Square from seven to one, so all have the same waiting times and restrictions. They also talked about plans which are afoot to double the size of the car park near the town.

Town mayor Angus Macdonald told the Comet: “We’ve got seven different parking zones in the town centre which causes a lot of confusion.

“We’ve had a lot of complaints from people who say they can’t park and can’t use the town shops because people are moving their cars from one zone to another and just parking there all day.

“We’re going to create one zone with one hour’s parking and no return within two hours.

“This will help bring it into line with other towns in the area and help ensure there is enough parking.

“We’re also planning an extension of the car park at Henry Smith Playing Field. This should make a real difference for access to the doctor’s surgery and for those who are struggling to park in town square.”

There will also be a trial to change the flow of traffic around the square to make it easier to access the Henry Smith car park from the town centre.

The council is waiting for approval from Central Bedfordshire Council before it can make the improvements in Market Square.

It owns the Henry Smith Playing Field and wants to expand the car park onto a section of the field which it says is mainly unused at the moment.

Mr Macdonald said the car parks will be increasingly needed given the scale of development the town is facing. Developers Gladman recently won approval after an appeal to build 85 homes west of Biggleswade Road and another appeal has been lodged for an 80-home development off Sutton Road which was refused by Central Beds Council.

The continuing extension of development east of Biggleswade is also likely to have an impact on the town.