Westbury Leigh will “lose its heart” if car park goes

LOCAL residents are concerned about the future of Westbury Leigh’s community car park, fearing it could be scrapped as a result of Wiltshire Council’s car parking review.

The site has spaces for over 40 cars, and is an important part of the area – without it many vehicles would be left on the road overnight. However, fears are growing that the car park will be axed as part of Wiltshire Council’s budget cuts; the free car park has no income, but had a recorded expenditure of over £48,000 from 2010-2013.

The car park was also threatened with closure in 2006 when West Wiltshire District Council tried to build houses on the land. Their effort was quashed by an action group, from which the current Westbury Leigh Village Association was formed.

Spokesperson for the group Angela Graham-Leigh said, “The community car park in Westbury Leigh has been an asset to the village for over 40 years.  Westbury Leigh is a linear village with approximately 135 properties fronting the road (also called Westbury Leigh), of which the vast majority were built without any facility for parking and have no space for off-street parking.

“Therefore, the car park is vital to the community; it is typically half-full during the day and full in the evenings, and many residents rely on parking there overnight. There is not sufficient on-street parking space for the vehicles that would be displaced by the loss of the car park.  Without parking facilities the pub would lose customers, the places of worship would lose their congregations, residents would move out – and Westbury Leigh would lose its heart.  We will fight this all the way!”

It is possible that rather than sell the land to developers, Wiltshire Council might delegate control of the car park to a community working group.

Town councillor and member for Wiltshire Council, Gordon King said, “The car park is free to use and makes a negative contribution to council revenue. This means that it is unlikely that the council will want to retain this car park in its future portfolio of car parks as it seeks to rationalise the estate in order to maximise revenues.

“I totally support the local community, taking this car park away or building on it makes no sense at all.  This car park is well used and is vital for keeping down the number of parked cars on the road.  Losing it can have nothing but negative implications for the community, a solution is possible.

“Speaking with Wiltshire Council officers I am pleased to report that they think similarly and would prefer the car park to continue as a car park in the future only in someone else’s ownership and responsibility.  Wiltshire Council is open to facilitating an asset transfer to either a charity, community group or to the Westbury Town Council as soon as is practicable.

“There are issues of maintenance and flooding in the car park that will need to be addressed before transfer can take place.  Wiltshire Council has made clear their position that they will address these issues provided that by addressing them, a transfer takes place.”