A BROMSGROVE mum has spoken out about her concerns over the lack of free parking available at the new library site at the Parkside development.

Lis Romanus, a mother of two young children was a regular visitor to the old library site on Stratford Road, making free weekly trips to entertain her four-year-old by swapping library books, and her 18-month-old with the Rhythm and Rhyme sessions.

She said: “Sadly we will not be able to attend every week any longer. All because we will now have to pay to use a public car park away from the new site. It is very poor that the council could not provide a few spaces to use for half an hour free of charge. In fact, the same can be said for all of the parking in Bromsgrove. We can't even go to the bank for a few minutes without having to pay.

“We live in difficult financial times. My family cannot spare cash every time we need to change our library books.

“This may seem like a very small issue to most, but I am personally very sad that the council have once again made life harder for families that want to use facilities that should be free for the use of educating their family. I thought the public libraries were meant to be inclusive and useable for all.”

Parking at the new Parkside development is dealt with by Worcestershire County Council.

A spokesperson for the council responded, saying: "Given the wide range of services now occupying the Parkside building there is little space for parking on the site. The decision was therefore taken to provide spaces for the Registration Service (two spaces only) and first-responding frontline staff only. There are a number of public car parks within walking distance of the Library which are listed on Bromsgrove.gov.uk, as well as parking on Stourbridge Road and certain connecting roads. We understand that this may cause some inconvenience, but providing space for free parking would have resulted in a significantly smaller library, with fewer services and facilities."