MELKSHAM Town councillors have raised concerns that the car park for the town’s new community campus will be ‘used and abused’ by people taking advantage of the proposed three hours’ free parking offer.
Councillors have queried why there is no connection between use of the car park and the facilities at the campus – set to open in the autumn in the grounds of Melksham House – which will include the library as well as a number of sports facilities.
It has been proposed by Wiltshire Council that from Monday to Sunday (except Bank Holidays), three hours’ free parking will be available on the campus car park from 8am-6pm. Car park users will retrieve a ticket displaying the time of arrival from a parking machine, which they will display in their vehicle. Wiltshire Council says there will be a restriction of three hours’ parking only, but town councillors have pointed out that anyone, not just campus users, will be able to park for free for three hours, which will limit the amount of parking space available for campus users.
In correspondence to the town council inviting them to give feedback about the proposed restrictions, a Wiltshire Council employee said, “Given the close proximity of the car park to the town centre, we feel it is important that a restriction order is in place so that spaces are prioritised for users of the campus facilities.”
“If there’s no link to them using the facilities,” said cllr Colin Goodhind at a town council meeting last month, “how’s that going to deter people from parking and then going shopping?
“Everyone’s going to park there! I don’t understand it.”
Cllr Gary Cooke added, “It’s going to be completely full, people using the campus aren’t going to be able to park there! People will abuse it.”
At the meeting it was decided by councillors that the town council’s response to Wiltshire Council’s pre-consultation about the campus car park regulations should recommend that there be a system to link campus use with use of the car park, to ensure that campus users have priority. A formal consultation process on the campus car park regulations will take place in the coming weeks.
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