Lib Dems quiz Tories over spending of £1.9m from car park sale

RULING district councillors were challenged over where £1.9m made from selling a public car park in Hythe has been spent.

Conservative-run New Forest District Council sold the St John’s Street facility to German discount retailer Lidl which has since built a supermarket there that opened in February.

At a recent meeting, Liberal Democrat Cllr Rebecca Clark said: “Residents of Hythe and Dibden who now use the new Lidl store in Hythe remain unaware as to where the £1.9m gained from the car park sale has been spent across the district.

“Can the council identify where specifically and identifiably in Hythe and Dibden will benefit from this sale?”

She compared the car park transaction to when a Tesco supermarket was built on the allotments in Sizer Way, Dibden. Proceeds produced the charitable Dibden Allotments Fund which gives grants to local people in hardship.

“The asset was an asset of the district,” replied Cllr Jeremy Heron, the cabinet member for finance, investment and corporate services. “Hythe and Dibden continues to get support from the district including from other car parks.

“We can’t treat one village in isolation. The money went back into our investment strategy which benefits the whole of the New Forest.

“It would be unreasonable if that revenue went to a small area of the Forest at the expense of people who held that property in the first place.”

Cllr Heron said Hythe was “busy and vibrant” and when he visited recently the car parks were “well used and close to full”.

The St John's car park had 160 spaces compared with the current total of 104 provided by Lidl.

As reported in the A&T, when residents and councillors called for more capacity in January they were told there was enough but the situation would be monitored.