Drivers furious after just three cars use new £1million car park in first week
The car park has been criticised by locals (stock image)
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A new £1million car park has been slammed after it was used by just three vehicles in the first week.
The 112-space railway car park has been unveiled in Manea in Cambridgeshire, despite criticism from locals about the amount being spent on it.
Opening last week, the car park caters to the village which has a population of just 2,500 people.
Aerial photos of the car park found that in the first three days of operation, only one vehicle parked at the train station.
Manea is located around 30 miles away from Cambridge
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Over the course of the rest of the week, two more vehicles parked, prompting councillors to brand the car park as a “waste of money”.
Councillors were critical of the development, despite saying that people working from home had an impact and the lack of advertising around its opening.
Residents claimed that there was not enough service to the train station to warrant such an expense being spent on a large car park.
Fenland Council, which covers Manea, argued that the size of the car park could attract interest and increase demand for services in the village.
Councillor Charlie Marks is a supporter of the car park, saying that the plans for the car park had been in operation for 20 years, before the impacts of the Covid pandemic.
He added: “Since then there have been a lot of people working from home. But now we are getting more people using the station again.
“The signage hasn’t been completed yet for where the car park is. We’re also looking to try and get a bus link to it as well.
“So there’s varying reasons why the car park only has three cars, but that’s three cars more than we had previously,” he told The Telegraph.
The train station is only served by a number of trains on the Greater Anglia network, including routes to Peterborough and Ipswich.
There is no direct route from the village to Cambridge around 30 miles away, with a change required at Ely, with no direct services to London either.
Fenland Council is aiming to see an increase in foot traffic and train services at the station with the increased capacity in the car park.
The car park was originally intended to open in April 2022 with construction delays pushing the opening date back to this August.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Working from home has been blamed for low visitor numbers
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A spokesperson for the Council said: “The construction and operation of the Manea Railway Station car park represents a major milestone in the progress of the Fenland Stations Regeneration Programme and will help to increase passenger uptake and drive demand for more frequent rail services.”
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