Tina Vella's comments come after a Camden Advertiser article on February 10 which said there were 22 empty shops from the top of Argyle Street to Target.

``More parking will bring more people (and) more people means more shops will open,'' the Oakdale resident, 30, said.

Mrs Vella, who has worked in the main street for six years, says she has to get to work before 8.30am or all the all-day parking spots are taken, and she has to move her car every three hours.

``I carry 10 kilograms of towels every single day to work. I need to park close to my shop,'' she said. ``(But) we can't punish business owners and we can't punish the consumer by fining people for parking in Camden.

``We need to come to some solution so everyone's happy but it needs to be done now. ''

She said parking wasn't an issue in Narellan, ``and it shouldn't be an issue in Camden''.

Mrs Vella, who will write to mayor Chris Patterson and Macarthur MP Pat Farmer about the problem, suggested the McDonald's site would have been ideal for a car park or she would welcome an underground car park.

Cr Patterson said he did not disagree with Mrs Vella regarding peak-hour times, but more parking was not economically viable.

``The last time we looked at it, another 80 or 90 spots behind John/Murray street (car park) would cost $4-5million that's $4-5million that something else has to give,'' he said.

Camden Chamber of Commerce president Miriam Roberts said Narellan Town Centre was privately owned and therefore provided its own car parking.

She agreed that Camden needed more easy access parking for shoppers.

``But as it has been identified in the Camden Town Centre Parking Survey September 2009, there is a fair bit of all day parking around the town centre,'' she said. ``Maybe some people aren't aware of where they can park.''