A town centre leader is hoping for "business as usual" while 200 car parking spaces are set to be out of use for nine months.

The Parkway multi-storey car park in Bury St Edmunds will undergo a £1.4 million essential maintenance project starting on Monday, September 5.

Nearly a third of the car parking spaces will be out of use while the concrete structure is upgraded and a new colour coding system is applied to both the parking levels and pedestrian walkways.

During the works, West Suffolk Council will make the neighbouring short-stay Parkway Surface car park available for all-day parking.

Councillor Peter Stevens, West Suffolk Council cabinet member for operations, said: "We recognise how important parking is and the role that it plays in supporting the town centre economy through the availability of both long stay and short stay spaces."

Mark Cordell, chief executive of Bury St Edmunds Business Improvement District, said he'd raised concerns about the potential impact on visitors, staff and pre-Christmas trade when he spoke with West Suffolk Council at the beginning of the year.

To meet the extra demand for parking spaces in the run-up to the festive season, there will be a six-week break from Monday, November 21 until Saturday, December 31, during which all spaces will be back in use.

West Suffolk Council has advised that the works will be noisy and, while describing this as "unavoidable", said structural repairs will be restricted to daytime hours from Monday to Friday.

Mr Cordell added: "No doubt the work will have a temporary impact on visitors to the town, but I want visitors, customers of our members and their employees to know that it's a case of 'business as usual while the parking facilities in the multi-storey car park are improved."

Measures will be taken to control the dust generated by the essential works and West Suffolk Council are also taking this opportunity to make other improvements that they believe will benefit users of the car park.

Advance warning signs will be placed around Bury St Edmunds in the coming weeks.