The former leader of Carmarthenshire County Council has slammed the authority’s decision to provide free parking in Llanelli while forcing Ammanford drivers to continue putting their hands in their pocket.

Members of the council’s executive committee approved proposals for free parking between 3pm and 5pm throughout October at all authority-owned car parks in Llanelli.

The board also scrapped a planned rise in parking fee and the introduction of charges in the evenings in a bid to encourage footfall in Llanelli

However, the move has been slammed by former leader, Councillor Kevin Madge, as favouring Llanelli over the Amman Valley.

“You cannot treat one area different to another,” said Cllr Madge.

“Every town in the county is struggling, Ammanford and the Amman Valley is struggling just as Llanelli is.

“This decision means that the tax-payers here will be subsidising the taxpayers elsewhere.

“That is simply not fair. It pits one area of the county against another.

“The people of Amman Valley are going to be extremely angry when they realise what is going on.

“The public is not stupid and they are going to realise that they are being made to pay so that the people of Llanelli can have the same services for free.”

Executive board member Cllr Hazel Evans has called for an examination of charges across the county.

She said: “I want to be in possession of more information before taking a longer term view.

“In the meantime, in fairness to the public, myself and my colleagues on the Executive Board have put a stop to the planned increases in charges and the introduction of evening charges.”

An increase of 20p per charge band had been planned, and charges were to be made for parking after 6pm.

Leader Cllr Emlyn Dole said: “I am pleased to say these have been scrapped, I fully support Cllr Evans’ view that we need more information on this and I look forward to the findings of the task and finish group.”