Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

Free parking to cost £450,000.
West Wiltshire District Council intends to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on repairs and refurbishment of the car park, which can accommodate 447 cars and offers both short and long stay spaces.

Cabinet agreed on 7 November that a detailed survey of the car park should be carried out as a matter of urgency, followed by a tendering process. Work on site should start in the New Year, avoiding disruption in the run-up to Christmas.

Graham Payne, Leader of the Council, said: "It has always been our intention to see the multi storey car park refurbished as part of Trowbridge's regeneration, although we had expected the work to be done as part of the St Stephen's Place development scheme. Despite all our efforts to get the developers signed up, their complete inability to keep their promises has left us with no choice but to do the work ourselves. My hope is we can now get things moving on the old Tesco site as well, as Trowbridge deserves so much more than this particular developer has so far been able to offer."