Our village has a giant £1M car park – but only 3 drivers use it… it’s a complete waste of money
Locals say a huge car park built in their village that cost more than £1million was a complete waste of money as only three drivers used it.
Aerial images show just one car parked in the new 112-space car park at Manea train station, north of the town of Ely, three days after it opened.
4
4
The car park was built in the small village as part of a £9.5million project by former Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Mayor James Palmer to improve Fenland railway stations.
The opening came at 5.30am on August 7 after a series of delays caused by CCTV links to Cambridgeshire Police.
But residents have criticized the council for wasting taxpayers’ money, claiming it is not used by many cars as there is no train service in the evenings and it is outside the village.
A local resident said: “Manea is a small village in the middle of nowhere and the car park was built on the outskirts of town so it really only serves the train station.”
“There is no evening train connection to or from Manea, so the station is never that busy and I just don’t see the need for such a large car park.
“It’s a complete waste of money.”
The car park has taken 20 years to plan and councilors hope the creation of a large parking area will allow them to push for more train services.
It was due to open in April 2022 but was held up by problems with CCTV connections to Cambridgeshire Police.
Councilor Charlie Marks said: “This car park took nearly 20 years to plan and construct and encountered numerous unforeseen problems, but finally Manea will have free, well-lit, video-surveilled off-street parking.”
Elsewhere, a hack has been discovered that will help you find your car in a busy parking lot.
A resident of a gated community was furious in April after she was fined for parking in her own lot.
In June this year, a father was slapped with a £60 parking fine over a little-known rule that he says ruined his family’s outing.
4
4