Shoppers visiting Oxford city centre are set to benefit from new pay-and-display parking regulations.

Councillors are being asked to recommend proposals that will extend waiting times around Oxford from two to three hours to give people a better chance to park their cars and walk into the centre

Three hours' parking will cost £3 in Benson Place, Bradmore Road, Crick Road, Fyfield Road, Keble Road, Mansfield Road, Norham Gardens and Norham Road, in north Oxford.

The move has been welcomed by members of Rox (Rescue Oxford), which has complained that high parking charges, combined with the Oxford Transport Strategy, have damaged trade.

Spokesman Roger Rosewell said: "If you are walking from Keble Road to the Covered Market it could take you 40 minutes just to get there.

"The council has been asking people to walk immense distances for a very short stay and these changes will hopefully convince people that they can come to shop in Oxford."

At a meeting of the highways and traffic committee on Thursday, community services director John Hill will present a report to councillors,which says: "The two-hour pay-and-display parking is under-used with many bays unoccupied for large parts of the day.

"One of the reasons for this is that shoppers and others parking in the bays are not always able comfortably to walk to the central area, carry out their business and be back within two hours.

"Increasing the maximum stay from two hours to three hours should alleviate this problem and improve the take-up of the bays."

No waiting prohibitions in Parks Road, St Aldate's and St Giles look set to be relaxed to provide evening spaces.

The St Giles relaxation on the eastern side by the war memorial would benefit businesses at the south end of Woodstock Road and Little Clarendon Street, while the Parks Road relaxation would help artists who display their paintings on park railings.

There are also proposals to alter loading restrictions in Beaumont Street, Magdalen Street East, Magdalen Street West, New Inn Hall Street, Park End Street and St Aldate's. An additional 16m of disabled parking is also being suggested on the north side of New Road.