THE councillor who introduced the parking marshals pilot scheme says it was so successful it will be brought back again next summer.

Independent Ian Murdoch says the marshals masterplan to help motorists find available spaces in the town has proved very effective.

During weekends the seafront car park is often full and marshals were introduced to free up spaces and avoid gridlock from driving people out of town.

Cllr Murdoch had been calling for parking marshals for some time and they were finally introduced in July until the end of the Viking Festival, working from mid-morning to mid-afternoon on Saturdays and Sundays.

The council say that the initial feedback has been 'very positive'.

The pilot will be formally reviewed at the end of September and feedback will be reported to a future North Coast Locality Partnership meeting.

The trial scheme took in 11 weekends in total and cost an estimated £7,225.

Cllr Murdoch said: "It is good that the move has received support from all the councillors.

"We look forward to bringing it back next year with some tweaks."

Meanwhile another measure being introduced is the re-lining of the seafront car park to create additional spaces

An additional 10 spaces were created at a cost of £161 and will provide an estimated £14,566 additional income to the car park fund per year.

Another move to iron out parking problems is the introduction of an out of hours callout car park attendance service at the seafront car park.

This service, due to start in October, will assist patrons in the event of system or user error, ensuring the car park operates as efficiently as possible.

A tender process is currently in process, and it is estimated that the service will cost approximately £20,000 over the year.

Seafront car park takings are disbursed to help boost the local area and seafront, and have helped pay for the recently-revamped skate park and the ongoing cleaning programme of public conveniences.