A FORMER Mayor of Tenbury has warned the town council against imposing a charge for motorists using the Palmers Meadow car park.

Keith Griffiths said that the proposal by the council to consider introducing a change – as previously reported by the Advertiser, would be a mistake and deter people from shopping in the town.

“It means that people will into the town perhaps when they are dropping family off to use the swimming pool and leisure centre.

I am sure that it is a benefit to businesses in Tenbury.

“There is also the issue of how would a charge be policed. Unless this is followed up and there are no traf fic wardens then a charge would quickly fall into disrepute.”

But he added that there are historical reasons why it would be inappropriate to impose a charge and might leave the town council vulnerable to a le gal challenge.

“The Palmers Meadow area was left to the town by a benefactor for use as a public space and this includes the car parking area.”

Tenbury Town Council says it is considering a charge in order to help to pay for resurfacing the car park area but Keith Morris says that this should not be necessary.

“It is my understanding that a number of years ago the council agreed to put £1,000 aside annually to cover maintenance charges and so the cost of resurfacing should be covered.”

Dawn Worgan, Tenbury’s town clerk, said that the matter is being looked at and will be subject to a report at the April meeting.

“There is money put aside for maintenance but £1,000 a year would not cover the costs at today’s prices,” she said.

“All the council is doing is looking at the possibility of generating some income from the car park that could be offset against the precept.”