A parking overhaul has been announced following a six-month campaign by traders who said business was damaged by commuters parking in shoppers’ spaces.

When daily parking charges at Epping station, operated by National Car Parks (NCP) for London Underground, rose to £6 at the start of the year, commuters started using Epping Forest District Council spaces in Bakers Lane and Cottis Lane, which are less than half the price, at £2.80.

Businesses said this meant shoppers were going elsewhere after failing to find a space.

The council has now said it will limit parking time at the 213 spaces in the Cottis Lane car park to five hours, with the maximum charge, for five hours, at £3.20, in line with costs across the district.

Rekha Patel, 37, who owns the Clocktower Restaurant in Station Road and Epping Tea Rooms in the High Street, said: “It’s good to stop the commuters clogging up the whole place.

“It was people from all around disrupting services in Epping, so this is a really positive move.

“We won’t know if this is going to solve the problem until it comes into force, but I’m pretty certain it’s going to relieve the pressure.”

Jon Whitehouse, a Liberal Democrat district councillor for Epping, said: “I have said since January that switching Cottis Lane car park back to short-stay spaces was the simplest way to ensure parking for shoppers and visitors to Epping.

“At last we now have a decision. Over the past six months Epping High Street has suffered because customers have found it difficult to park in the town centre.”

Gary Waller, the Conservative-led council’s highways portfolio holder, said he and his team had been considering the possible effects of any changes in parking over the past six months.

He added: “This involves a lot more spaces than we were originally considering.

“Cottis Lane is more convenient for shoppers than Bakers Lane.

“If we had gone for just part of Cottis Lane, it would have been a relatively expensive operation because we would have had to divide up the car park.”

But Pravin Vadher, 58, who owns House 2 Home in the High Street, said there would still be too few spaces for shoppers.

He added: “It’s a good idea, but I don’t think making one car park short stay is enough.

“There will still be customers coming in saying there’s no parking.”

Transport for London has announced that it will work with NCP to review the prices of its parking season tickets, which it plans to offer at all London Underground car parks in the future.