The Liberal Democrat administration at Wiltshire Council has failed in its bid to secure £2.5 million to pay a shopping centre owner to take a dilapidated multi-storey car park in Trowbridge off their hands.
The council’s cabinet had previously voted to hand the owner of Castle Place shopping centre up to £2.5 million in stages to take on the adjoining St Stephen’s Place car park, demolish it and the shopping centre, and redevelop the site.
But they needed the agreement of full council to release the money, with Warminster councillors among those involved in the decision.
In a nail-biting vote today, Wednesday 7th January, the Liberal Democrats and the combined forces of Conservative and Reform UK councillors – possibly with a smattering of independents – returned a tie of 45 each, with one abstention.
Council chair Laura Mayes, a Conservative, used her casting vote against the motion.
The council says the 50-year-old car park needs to be repaired – which would keep it open for around four to five years – or demolished. And demolition is out of the question because of a legal covenant between the owner of the car park and the owner of the shopping centre, who is assured the 400 free car parking spaces next to his facility.
It says it looked at a number of options, including buying the shopping centre – so that it hep both sides of the covenant – or keeping and rebuilding the car park.
It had also explored challenging the 50-year-old covenant in the courts, but had received legal advice it had a less than 35 per cent chance of winning as that a loss would mean legal costs and a possible obligation to repair or replace the car park, which structural engineers say is at the end of its natural life.
Helen Belcher, Wiltshire Council’s cabinet member for economic development, regeneration and assets, told the meeting that its preferred option – to transfer ownership of the car park to the owner of the shopping centre – represented “the cheapest option with the lowest risk for the council.”
During a heated debate, council leader Ian Thorn said the car park was in a “dreadful, dreadful state,” and the surveyor had been “very clear about the shocking state the car park is in.”
He warned, “There is a choice today between spending £2.5 million to take us out of this covenant, or borrowing £8 or 9 million to demolish and rebuild – which would affect every council tax payer in the county.”
But Conservative leader Richard Clewer said there were not enough figures to make an informed decision.
“Is this a good deal for the council and the people of Wiltshire?” he asked. “No, it is not.”
Conservative deputy leader Dominic Muns said vital information about the business rates generated by the shopping centre had not been forthcoming, while senior Conservative councillor Nick Holder said he was “really disappointed” at the apparent lack of openness. “What are you hiding from us?” he demanded.
Meanwhile, Conservative Zoe Clewer said “We are being asked to sanction the Great Council Giveaway.”
Liberal Democrat Stewart Palmen, in whose Trowbridge Central ward the car park sits, said the £2.5 million deal represented “an excellent investment in Trowbridge,” while his Lib Dem colleague Julie Vine (Trowbridge Grove) said the car park spaces were no longer needed because of the changing nature of retail, and that the car park was a “horrible representation” of Trowbridge.
Liberal Democrat Nigel White said the opposition was “more focused on defeating us than on this car park.”
Conservative Chuck Berry said challenging the covenant in the courts was a “three-in-one shot.”
“Let’s take the gamble,” he said. “This could be solved with a quick bet.”
But Gavin Grant, cabinet member for finance, said, “This administration will not gamble with taxpayers’ money.”
Following the vote, the Liberal Democrats accused the opposition of “handing council tax payers an £8 million car park repair bill to score political points.”
And Cllr Thorn told the Local Democracy Reporting Service, “When you’re running a minority administration, you’ll lose some votes. We’ll have to come back with some new ideas or a new approach and try to convince one more councillor that our position is the right way to go.”
Meanwhile, Chris Vaughan, Reform UK councillor for Trowbridge Park – whose campaign to persuade the council to buy the shopping centre rather than dispose of the car park won praise from all quarters – said, “Today’s decision was the right one.”
