Cheltenham Idsall Drive car park rethink rejected

Councillor Peter Jeffries spoke during the meeting in Cheltenham

A petition calling for a council to reverse plans to sell a publicly-owned car park has been rejected amid cries of "shame" at a meeting.

Around 1,000 people had called on Cheltenham Borough Council to take Idsall Drive car park off the market.

The site currently has 10 short-stay spaces but council chiefs say it is underused and costs about £4,000 a year to maintain.

The authority decided last year to put the two-hour stay car park up for sale.

Dozens of people sat in the public gallery in the Municipal Offices on Monday as Conservative councillor Stephan Fifield put forward the petition.

He said the car park is a "crucial" part of Prestbury, socially and economically, and is the only free car park in the area providing access to the high street.

Every high street business owner and many people in the gallery were against the sale, he added.

Councillor Stan Smith, a member of People Against Bureaucracy, Prestbury, who supported the petition, said the car park is "part of the village".

"It's the hub, parishioners for the church use it on Sundays and funerals at the weekend."

Deputy council leader Peter Jeffries told the council the sale of the car park has been "completed" as the contracts were exchanged last week and that the petition had arrived too late.

These comments were met with cries of "shocking" and "disgraceful" from the public gallery.

Dozens of residents in the public gallery at Municipal Officers, Cheltenham

Mr Jeffries went on to explain the council needed to sell the site due to the Conservative Government's cuts to local government funding.

He added that in his view the petition was, for some, "all about politics" and that extensive survey work had been carried out on the usage of the car park.

"The survey work clearly showed that without a car park this is sufficient on-street parking to meet day-to-day demand", Mr Jeffries said.

He added that the council had explored Prestbury Parish Council's potential to purchase the car park, but "they declined".

The council voted to reject the petition and continue with the sale by 26 vote to nine.

The site is understood to be being sold for around £120,000. It is understood to have been offered to the parish council for a third of that price.