Swaffham councillors debate whether taking on the town’s car parks from Breckland Council is a good idea or not

Councillors were divided on whether or not it would be a good idea to own some of the car parks in the town.

Some thought it would be a good idea so they could keep parking in the town free, or cheap. While others said it would cost the council a lot of money to maintain.

Councillors debated the issue at their full on Wednesday.

Cllr Stuart Bell said he thinks it is “possible” that the council could afford to take over the car parks and said CCTV is already in place.

The car parks affected would be Theatre Street, Market Place, Pitt Lane, Lynn Road and Pedlars.

It comes after plans by Breckland District Council to introduce car parking charges to the town.

However, other councillors shared their concerns that it wouldn’t be a viable option as they struggled to see the benefit of taking on the car parks.

Cllr Les Scott said: “The biggest point is seeing the benefit of owning the car parks. I struggled to find a main benefit.

“Do we want to own them to manage them better or are we inferring that car parking remains free if we own it?”

Mayor Paul Darby said: “If we take them on we would have to pay for repairs.

“I think it is a non-starter myself. I don’t think the public would welcome paying an extra £100,000 on council tax.”

However, Cllr Bell said that introducing parking charges to the town would put people off coming into Swaffham to shop and eat.

He suggested by taking on the car parks, the council could keep some free and charge £1 a day at others.

He said: “How much do we spend on bringing people to the town centre?

“We want to try to build community, we try to help the town centre. We are here to try to make the community better.”

Six councillors voted in favour of not taking the proposal to take over the car parks any further, one voted against this and three abstained from voting.