THE Recreation Ground car park in Fordingbridge could be set for a revamp so it can cope with summer tourists - which would include charging drivers to park.

Councillor Mike Jackson, mooted the idea during a meeting of Fordingbridge Town Council last week, and suggested asking New Forest District Council (NFDC) if it would be willing to spend Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) money from developers improving the car park and putting in charging.

He said: “You will all remember what the Rec looked like last summer when the lockdown eased up. It is going to be no different this year, it’s probably going to be worse. More people are going to be having holidays at home. We will come down to the Rec being inundated.”

He said improving the car park at the Rec and putting in charging would mean it would be able to “cope with a few more visitors in the summer without them parking all over the verges”. He also said the revenue from car parking may be able to be shared between the town council and the district council.

“We need to do it fairly rapidly because that summer season the visitors are going to start arriving April, May,” added Cllr Jackson.

Councillor Anna Wilson, deputy mayor, asked whether the town council could find out where the CIL money was being spent.

Councillor Nobby Goldsmith said the paid for car park and the one at the Rec were “quite small” and in the summer would be full with people parking on the side of the road. “There is just not enough room”.

Cllr Jackson said the car park at the Rec was not open to visitors but could be “upgraded” and be a “chargeable” car park so it is “open to tourists all the time”.

Councillor Malcolm Adams supported Cllr Jackson’s idea and said it was “well worth investigating”.

Mayor, Councillor Edward Hale said: “We can ask the question and see if there is an option for that. It would be great to improve that car park.”

Cllr Jackson said even if NFDC said it was not interested the town council should still investigate it and there was an opportunity to bring in revenue from visitors using the Rec. The council agreed to contact NFDC about the idea.