A MARLBOROUGH charity may be forced to fork out £20 a day for parking spaces for a Christmas tree if it wants to continue putting it in the High Street.

It has been tradition for more than ten years that the Marlborough and District Rotary Club bring extra festive cheer by placing a 19ft tree in the town centre.

However, because it takes up two parking spaces the charity has been told Wiltshire Council is now debating whether to charge nearly £1,000 for the use of the bays for the seven weeks the tree is up.

The announcement was made by Wiltshire Highways who were going to make them pay this year but after last minute negotiations the charge was wavered. But next year’s tree is now in jeopardy.

“We are frustrated but hoping to rely on the goodwill of the council,” said rotary president Rex Sandbach, 56, of Golding Avenue.

“They are under pressure to cut costs and we are grateful for their flexibility this year and quick response because we had very short notice.

“We would not be able to afford to pay as it is more than we raise for our Christmas appeal,” he added.

“It is a centre point of the lights particularly where it is in the High Street and hopefully it brings people into the town and it makes it feel more Christmassy."

The rotary has appealed this decision and it has now been passed onto the Highways and a meeting is due to take place to find a solution.

Marlborough town councillor Mervyn Hall said: “I just think it is penny pinching as usual. It is not a surprise in one way, it comes from financial desperation.

“It is something we have always traditionally done in Marlborough and I am pretty disappointed with Wiltshire Council, it would be an awful shame.”

The tree is jointly donated by T. H. White and Jadecliff and installed and maintained by the Rotary Club.

If no alternative can be found or the charge is not wavered then there will no longer be a Christmas tree in the High Street, the charity has said.

“It would be a sad day for Marlborough if this could not continue,” added club member Geoff Oades.

However, Philip Whitehead, who is Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport at Wiltshire Council said the income lost from drivers paying to park in the spaces could be used to fund other services.

He said: “We currently give away £200,000 a year of people taking our parking spaces, so that might be the Marlborough Mop or the Chippenham Fair.

“Last year from 2015 we said we would charge people so when the rotary club approached me this year I wavered the charge.

“I did say to them however we would talk about this and we are going to do some scouting and look for a different option.

“£200,000 is what I am losing a year in revenue, that will pay for the Hopper bus and a lot of other things.

“People want to save the Hopper bus but they also want a Christmas tree, so what can we keep?”