BROMSGROVE'S multi-storey car park will not be used as a car lot at slack times, it has been decided.

An idea to use the Churchfields facility as a car mart on one evening or on a Sunday to raise cash for the council and to help stop 'kerbside' sales of vehicles was put to the January meeting of the full council by Labour councillors Sean Shannon (Charford) and Peter McDonald (Waseley).

Cllr Shannon said he has seen a similar idea adopted in Paris and London and it is very popular in the USA.

"With the car park empty most of the time, it is a viable proposition and would generate cash for the council," he said.

He added the extra visitors such a scheme would attract would help boost trade in local pubs and fish and chip shops.

But other councillors failed to share the pair's enthusiasm. Cllr Rita Dent (Con-St John's) said she thought the idea more applicable to April Fool's day and criticised Labour for not taking the real concerns of neighbours into account.

This was taken up by Cllr Bill Newnes (Broms Ind Group-Sidemoor). He said that after the story appeared in the Advertiser/Messenger, he received 14 phone calls from worried residents concerned that car sales would result in misery from abandoned vehicles, pollution and noise.

"It has been ill thought out and residents' rights should come before monetary gain," he said.

The motion was defeated on a show of hands.