A RADICAL proposal to build a multi-storey car park in the centre of Tavistock has been launched by the town council.
The move has been sparked by former mayor Cllr Norma Woodcock.
She has called for a ?radical solution? to the problem of increasing traffic in Tavistock ? and said the town?s Bedford Car Park could provide the answer.
Cllr Woodcock told last week?s meeting of the council?s properties committee that the town was thriving because it had been effective in selling itself.
She said: ?Because we need to keep being a thriving town and because we have 600 new houses on the stocks, this has to be taken by the scruff of the neck.
?We have to recognise the geography of Tavistock, with its hills, doesn?t allow many people to be able to manage without cars. I?m not sure many people like park and ride schemes.
?Dare I mention a multi-storey in Bedford car park? I don?t say this in jest, although I would have done five years ago.
?I know people will say we can?t have it there, but you tell me where else we can get car parking space??
Cllr Woodcock said a variety of funding avenues could be explored, to include European and tourist development money.
She said the council should take the initiative, be proactive and start talking practically ? and soon.
Deputy mayor Caroline Keane backed the move. She said: ?I think this is the biggest single problem we have in Tavistock. We set up schemes to attract people into the town, yet there?s nowhere for them to put their cars.
?As a council we are in a good position to be as proactive as possible.?
Cllr Roy Connelly said the 600 new houses earmarked for Tavistock in West Devon Borough Council?s new local plan probably meant at least 1,000 more cars on the town?s roads by 2011.
He said resultant pressure on the town?s roads and parking provision would be huge and that the local plan was ?flawed? in its approach to the issue.
He said: ?The only areas you can tackle are the existing car parks, you have to maximise use, because any virgin land will go for housing.
?It?s not going to get better, it?s going to get worse, you have to manage it.?
He called for the town to work with the borough and county to tackle the problem.
The council agreed to write to the borough and county councils, requesting a meeting to try to address the town?s parking problems
Bedford Car Park is owned by the borough councill.
David Inman, the borough?s director of community and services, said such a scheme would ?change the environment considerably? and would carry an ?enormous? price tag.
?I?ve no idea whether you could successfully get away with a proposal like that,? he said.
Detailed planning considerations would be involved in such a sensitive area. ?The first thing we have to do is make best use of the car parks we have already ? Riverside isn?t used to its full capacity ? but we would be happy to have discussions on the subject generally,? said Mr Inman.
David Scrivener, chairman of Tavistock Chamber of Commerce, said his members were looking closely at all options to increase parking provision in Tavistock.
He said: ?Certainly to build on top of Bedford Car Park would be beneficial, but obviously it would be a question of how many layers.?
Mr Scrivener said in principle the proposal was a good idea, but it would need careful consideration of its effect on residents and the area itself.