Published: March 10, 2008
Council's proposed sale of Highbridge car park set to be reviewed

Plans by Sedgemoor District Council to sell off Highbridge's Bank Street car park are to be fully reviewed following a vote by councillors.

Burnham-On-Sea.com reported last week how controversial plans by the district council to sell off the land, pictured here, in order to raise money for regeneration have been met by widespread opposition.

However, in a new twist, the proposals have been 'called in' by five district councillors standing on Sedgemoor's Corporate Scrutiny committee - effectively putting the proposals on hold.

The plan to sell off various assets was debated by district councillors at a Corporate Scrutiny meeting in Bridgwater on Friday (March 7th).

Cllr Julian Taylor, Cllr Danny Titcombe, Cllr Kathy Pearce, Cllr Roger Lavers and Cllr Graham Granter all felt the plans that had been formally approved by the council's executive needed further review - much like the decision last year to sell Highbridge's Queen Square for development which was later overturned.

During the meeting, Cllr Ken Dyer questioned why Sedgemoor should keep assets, such as car parks which are rarely used. However, several councillors questioned how the usage figures - which suggest Bank Street Car Park is one of the least used car parks in the district - had been calculated.

Cllr Joe Leach stated that Bank Street Car Parks is used at night when parking is not monitored and this needs be taken into consideration. He added that it "shouldn't be about profit and gain, but instead what people want."

Concerns were also raised by Cllr Bob Filmer that the plans to sell off car parks had not come before the Corporate Scrutiny committee before being published.

It was proposed that the whole plan be returned to Sedgemoor's Executive Commitee with the recommendation that it be reviewed again - and that all assets under review be taken into consideration. The proposal was passed by seven votes to three.

Cllr Joe Leach told Burnham-On-Sea.com after Friday's meeting: "I think we should consider this a small victory for Highbridge and Sedgemoor as a whole, but we mustn't stop the fight for the heart of Highbridge, which is vitally important."

The meeting comes just days after Doug Bamsey, Corporate Director of Sedgemoor District Council, explained at a meeting in Burnham last Monday (March 3rd) that the district council wants to sell off Bank Street car park in order to raise money for regeneration. "Our revenue budgets are under great strain this year because of our £1.8m funding shortfall, so the sell-off of some assets is essential," he said. He added that the 3,083 square metre area of land at Bank Street has "development potential" for several multi-storey blocks of flats.