THREE bold designs for a new multi-storey car park in Cirencester have been revealed, with the public asked to choose their favourite.

Cotswold District Council is holding an exhibition of designs for the Waterloo car park in the King Charles room at The Fleece in Market Place until July 26. Businesses and residents are invited to attend between 9am and 5pm each day to give their views on three shortlisted designs.

Votes and comments will then help the council to decide which two options should go head to head, for a final decision.

Councillor Mark Harris, cabinet member for car parks, said: “This is a great opportunity for Cirencester residents to comment on the options for this much-needed new car park.

“We’ve been keen to ensure that local people are kept up to date with our progress with the scheme, and it’s important that they now have a chance to review and comment on the options for how the new car park will look.

“We want to choose a design that is practical inside whilst having a look that respects our heritage and townscape and at the same time has ‘wow factor’. We want residents and visitors to say how cool the Cirencester car park is.”

Anyone unable to attend the exhibition can give their view via a survey which will available at

www.cotswold.gov.uk

The exhibition comes as CDC announced it had bought numbers 27 and 27A Dyer Street as a ‘strategic acquisition’ as part of the overall town centre scheme, and the ‘horrible’ alleyway, between Argos and the Salvation Army shop, which links Dyer Street with the Waterloo car park, will be improved.

The buildings currently house Argos, Savers, the Salvation Army and Young Performers Dance company and they remain in occupation on their current leases.

By buying the property, the council can make sure that the pedestrian link from the Waterloo to Dyer Street will remain and that the alleyway, called ‘dark and dingy’ and a ‘grot spot’ by many residents, can be made more pleasant.

A resident, Victoria Hughes, was among those to welcome the plans to improve the alleyway, describing it as “dark, intimidating when someone is sleeping rough down there, and often unsightly”.

Council leader Joe Harris said: “I’m thrilled we’ve been successful with this purchase. Buying this property is significant to the overall proposals we have planned to deliver more parking spaces in the Waterloo Car Park as well as our long-term plans for improvements to Cirencester town centre. It increases our options.”

Cllr Harris added: “This purchase also means that we are in control of our own destiny with respect to any future enhancements of the site.

“A great starting point will be working with the current tenants to see how we can improve the walkway between Dyer Street and the Waterloo Car Park, which many residents and visitors find horrible to walk through.”

The plan to buy the site originated with the previous Conservative administration on CDC, prior to the Liberal Democrats winning control at May’s elections.

Cllr Richard Morgan, leader of the Conservative group on CDC, said: “The previous Conservative controlled council thought this investment made a lot of sense as the property offers a reasonable return on investment, but also offers CDC control more than 30 additional car parking spaces and a long term opportunity to provide affordable housing in the flats above.

“We also took a long term-view that the walkway was a strategic link between the centre of Cirencester and the proposed new multi-storey car park we were planning to build.

“The investment made sense commercially and strategically and we were pleased this purchase received approval at a council meeting on February 26 2019 and completed on April 3 2019.

“We are obviously pleased the new Lib Dem administration share our enthusiasm for the project and we are keen to explore how we can quickly improve the walkway between Dyer Street and the Waterloo Car Park and make it brighter and more attractive.”

To find out more about the master plan for Cirencester town centre, visit cirencesterfutures.org.uk