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Published:
March 20, 2008
500-name petition supports
saving Highbridge's Bank Street car park
 Highbridge
residents fighting the potential sale of the town's Bank Street
car park handed over a 500-name petition to Sedgemoor District
Council bosses on Thursday evening (March 20th).
The
huge petition was unveiled during a public meeting held in Highbridge's
Community Hall, run by the Burnham and Highbridge Regeneration
Partnership.
Chairman
Rose Parsons, who is also a Highbridge County Councillor, handed
over the thick wad of signatures to Andrew Gilling, Portfolio
Holder for Planning and Transport, as pictured above.
"All
these names have been collected in just one week," she said.
"Clearly, this shows the strength of feeling there is against
any sell-off of this car park."
The
opposition to the possible sale of the car park for development
was also displayed during the meeting, which was attended by around
30 residents.
 Doug
Bamsey, Corporate Director of Sedgemoor District Council, tried
to reassure residents that while "several offers" have
been made by developers interesting in buying the land, "no
deal has yet been done and full consultation is still underway."
He
pointed out that Bank Street's 109 car parking spaces are "among
the least profitable in the district," although Cllr Joe
Leach questioned whether this is because there are not enough
parking attendants to enforce charges.
During
a question and answer session, local resident Doreen Reddish asked
Mr Bamsey: "Don't you think there are too many flats in Highbridge?
We don't want more in place of our car park. This is going too
far - you have no regard for Highbridge at all."
 But
Mr Bamsey (pictured right) explained that the government is encouraging
local authorities to introduce more high-rise acomodation to "maxmise
the use of available land and introduce more affordable family
homes."
Cllr
Leach added that the car park is at "the heart of the town
and there would be no incentive for people to stop and do their
shopping in Highbridge if the bulk of the car park spaces go."
Liberal
Democrat parliamentary candidate Tessa Munt agreed, saying she
is "absolutely against the plans." She added that it
"greatly concerns me that the district council appears to
support cramming people into new flats without gardens or proper
facilities around them."
Julian
Street, Sedgemoor Group Manager, explained that due to its £1.8m
cash shortfall, the district council "is in a tough financial
position" and that "while we don't want to get rid of
our assets, there are few choices for us at the moment."
RELATED
LINKS:
Bank Street
car park sale put on hold by council
Opposition
grows over Bank Street car park sale
Map
showing the Sedgemoor plans in full
Council
urged by Lib Dems not to sell off Highbridge car park
Anger
over bid to sell off Bank Street car park
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