A council has scrapped parking charges in an effort to support key workers and community volunteers.

East Suffolk Council has announced the suspension in all its car parks until further notice.

Norman Brooks, East Suffolk’s cabinet member for transport, said: “With fewer people using car parks now because of social distancing measures, this revenue has already been reduced and temporarily removing these fees is a sensible approach.

“As well as supporting our wider communities throughout this crisis, our priority must be to make life as simple as possible for the frontline key workers and volunteers and we hope that this small step can make a difference.

“Additionally, this move will enable us to redeploy some of our operational staff to other services which are currently in great demand.”

A spokesperson for the council, however, added: “The suspension of car park charges is being introduced to support key workers and volunteers and not to encourage unnecessary travel.”