THE new multi-storey car park has opened off Barfield Close. Not without some controversy, the structure provides some 180 new parking spaces.

Belgarum has wondered why several spaces at the new structure are earmarked for local residents who live on Bar End Road and back gardens that abut Barfield Close. A hundred yards up the street there is the former goods shed of the Southampton to Newbury railway. It has a number of spaces earmarked for parking. In recent months they have been fenced off, although in recent weeks the fencing has been knocked over.

Wouldn't it has been simpler to have earmarked these unused spaces for local residents and kept the new structure for commuters? Would have saved on paint too, marking out the spaces for local residents. We asked the city council (more than once) about the thinking behind it, but never got a reply. Perhaps it's purdah.

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