NEW parking restrictions in Devizes are to be extended to take in the part of Commercial Road around the hospital and by the cemetery.

Business people have already expressed their disgust at the two-hour restriction, which will force them to use pay-and-display car parks costing a minimum of £1.50 a day.

After consultation with Kennet District Council and Devizes Town Council, the county council is to advertise the new on-street parking orders. They will cover the part of Rotherstone by the cemetery boundary and the road from the canal bridge along Commercial Road to New Park Road. The remaining part of Commercial Road will not be affected.

The disc parking system will also disappear when the new restrictions come into force, some time in the summer. A report to Kennet District Council's environmental services committee expressed concern about the impact on the workload of the council's parking attendants.

Councillors accepted the town council's plea to extend the one-hour parking in Sheep Street to two hours, but Hillworth Road, which the town council had recommended be included in the scheme, was excluded because of the difficulty of enforcing parking there.