COUNCILLORS have requested that parking times be reviewed on two busy streets to help businesses draw in more customers.
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Bathurst Regional Council has been asked to reduce the time limit for one block of William Street where there is currently a two-hour limit.
Councillor Ian North said he had received a petition from a business owner, who thought the time limit was too generous.
"A lot of customers have said they can't find a car park nearby in this area and they'll try to come back another day, so she has raised the question to change the two hour limit between Russell and Keppel [streets] to one hour," he said.
Cr North asked the traffic committee to look at the possibility of reducing the time limit to discourage people from parking there for extended periods of time.
"I do know a couple of businesses, when we changed the time further down William Street, that the one big comment they made was that 'Those cars we kept seeing, the people we kept seeing, we never saw them anymore'," he said.
"They were using that to be their bit of car space throughout the day and the business owners saw a bigger increase in traffic coming into their businesses.
"We need to support our businesses and we need to keep people moving on."
Another area in need of review is the southern end of Stewart Street, Cr Alex Christian said.
Business owners in the area feel that the one-hour parking limit is too long and would like to see it reduced by half.
Council's director of Engineering Services said it could be reviewed by the traffic committee, but first business owners should write a letter to council outlining their concerns.
