THE Ely Traders Association – which has fiercely objected to plans to introduce parking charges in the city – says the district council can build a new car park with money given to the authority by supermarket giant Tesco. In a letter to Cllr Brian Ashto

THE Ely Traders' Association - which has fiercely objected to plans to introduce parking charges in the city - says the district council can build a new car park with money given to the authority by supermarket giant Tesco.

In a letter to Cllr Brian Ashton, the chairman of the committee that looks at the parking charge plans, the association proposes that Ely's access crisis is solved by building a new car park with funds left over from a section 106 agreement with Tesco. 106 agreements are drawn up when big developers move into an area and offer money to improve the local roads or infrastructure.

The association says the retailer provided the council with £500,000 to improve the city's infrastructure as a condition of planning approval for the Angel Drove store's expansion. The group is suggesting that some of this money could be spent on a car park.

Chairman of the group, Elaine Griffin-Singh, said: "We believe that if there was the will to build a car park to solve the parking issue, then it could be done."

In her letter to Cllr Ashton, she wrote: "We feel that our proposal offers a positive course of action, with no element of risk, and could be achieved in a relatively short time scale."

Cllr Ashton spoke to The Ely Standard earlier this week, and stressed that the section 106 agreement was a complex legal contract with the supermarket chain that imposes strict conditions on how and when the money is spent.

"Much of the money provided by Tesco is required to be spent on various aspects of improving the access to the city," he said.

"This could take a number of forms and at this time nothing has been ruled in or out.