Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC) has announced that parking in the district will be free after 3pm in the run up to Christmas.

HDC says the return of free parking after 3pm would support local town centre shopping throughout the festive period.

The free parking will come into place from December 1 and will run until December 24, from Monday to Friday.

Councillor Marge Beuttell, executive councillor for operations and regulation, said: "This offer has been successful over the past few years, so, as is tradition, we will be bringing it back for 2019. It's a great opportunity to offer additional support during the Christmas build-up and encourage residents to support their local high streets."

The offer is valid in St Neots, including Waitrose, but excluding Market Square as this is an on-street facility; St Ives, including Waitrose; and Huntingdon, including Sainsbury's.

Signs and stickers will be on display in car parks, and on the car parking machines explaining the times the offer is valid.

In August, HDC announced it would be introducing a new system of charging car park users which would see people 'pay for what you use', which allows people to pay for the nearest 15 minutes, rather than pay per hour block.

The new charges, which were approved by HDC in February, have seen car parks such as Tebbutts Road in St Neots scrap the one hour pay option meaning drivers have to pay for a minimum two-hour stay.