A KIDDERMINSTER councillor has slammed highways bosses who originally recommended 376 spaces for the £11.9million Wyre Forest Leisure Centre before settling on less than half.

Last month, The Shuttle reported how users of the busy centre, off Silverwoods Way, had taken to abandoning their cars on pavements and grass verges after failing to nab one of the coveted 171 spaces.

Wyre Forest District Council has since unveiled plans to create 25 extra spaces to cope with the demand at the facility, which opened in July last year and replaced Wyre Forest Glades and Stourport Sports Centre.

But Wyre Forest UKIP leader and Kidderminster town councillor Michael Wrench said he expressed his misgivings about Worcestershire County Council’s conclusions when planners considered the application back in March 2015.

A county council spokesman said Highways’ recommendation had initially been based on floor space calculations but subsequent low traffic usage data from the previous leisure centre sites led to them to agreeing the smaller figure.

Councillor Wrench said: “The Highways Authority figure of 376 spaces was based on their own system to calculate how many spaces would be needed.

“I said at the time that the gap between the Highways figure and the proposed figure of just 180 spaces was too big - more than 50 per cent difference - and this simply would not be enough for visitors and all the staff as well.

“How was Highways convinced that 180 spaces would be enough when their own system showed a figure of 376? But they went along with it despite the fact this centre is meant to serve all three towns of the district as well as outside visitors.

A spokesperson for Worcestershire County Council said: "The initial recommendation for 376 parking spaces was calculated using a previous policy based on floor area.

“However the applicant provided evidence based usage data that showed lower inbound and outbound movements across the various sites.

“This, together with the existing cycle route and potential public transport alternatives, led to the proposal of 180 spaces being agreed through the local planning process."