A DOG walker has criticised a decision to cut the size of a car park by nearly 40 per cent making it difficult to find a space.

Alan Boyes of Weston Orchard, Fladbury, uses the car park at Jubilee Bridge between Cropthorne and Fladbury three times a week to walk his dog. But recent work has seen it significantly reduced and he says it is now often full during the day.

“The work needed doing, no one could deny it was in desperate need of maintenance work and repair. I am a regular user of the car park and meet many regulars.

“None of us can comprehend why the car park size has been reduced and seemingly narrowed to such an extent that it now often becomes full and is marked in a way as to make manoeuvring cars difficult when busy. Once about 10 or 11 cars get there, that is basically it. This is occurring during the recent damp, chilly autumn days and that does not bode well for the warmer days of summer. It seems a very silly decision, the more so as no one apparently consulted the regular users of the car park. Everyone is moaning about it.”

Despite Mr Boyes’s claims Worcestershire County Council, which made the changes, says it did consult car park users and that the car park was previously “unneccessarily”

large.

“Following feedback from visitors, works to the picnic site car park have recently been carried out,“ said a spokesman. "The area of the car park has been reduced as it was unnecessarily large for the site. The marking of parking spaces greatly improves the efficiency of the car park by maximising the number of cars which can use the car park.

"The newly grassed area will allow the installation of additional picnic tables.”