A BROMSGROVE couple has come to the defence of the town's Churchfields car park, which was described by Labour group leader Peter McDonald as a "white elephant."

Kathleen Tedstone, a former district councillor for the Conservative party, said she was outraged by the comment, which was simply a case of making political capital for the sake of it, she claimed.

"I do not see how Councillor McDonald can substantiate what he said. The car park is a great asset to the town and part of the infrastructure necessary to bring new shops and trade to Bromsgrove.

"It is true that Bromsgrove is short of big name shops but that is down to market forces and not the fault of the council," said Mrs Tedstone, of Santridge Lane.

"The car park is well used, it is easily accessible and enables people to be in the dry when it is raining. Furthermore, it is well lit has closed circuit television and people feel safe using it."

"If we are to attract people to Bromsgrove one of the things that we need to offer is plenty of good quality car parking. People who cannot park will go somewhere else and the town needs every facility it can get to bring in visitors."

Mrs Tedstone said there were times when the car park was not full but that was true of every car park in every town and city in the country.

"If the car park was full all the time then there would be good reason to criticise the council for lack of vision."

She was supported by her husband William who said that he always found the car park convenient to use and well designed.

But Councillor McDonald defended his comments: "The fact the council admits the car park is not even full at Christmas proves my point. It is a white elephant."