ANGRY commuters rallying for extra parking spaces at Salisbury railway station were offered an olive branch this week.

South West Trains has confirmed that it is in talks with landowner Network Rail about opening up a former goods siding as additional parking.

The news has been welcomed by Chalke Valley Preservation Society chairman, Priscilla Mackay, who wrote to Wiltshire county council in July, complaining about the lack of parking at the station after 8.30am.

She said residents living outside the city who have to drive to the station often arrive after morning rush hour and find nowhere to park.

Despite the announcement, Mrs Mackay said Salisbury district council should not have blocked planning permission for additional parking on the eastern side of Fisherton Street Bridge, which was recommended for approval in June 2002.

She said: "The land on the eastern side of the bridge is not being used for anything and could be opened up straight away."

Philip Tilley, transportation and development manager for WCC, responded to Mrs Mackay's original plea for additional parking back in July.

In his letter, he said that providing increased parking to satisfy peak-time demands "has questionable benefits and could be regarded as encouraging long-distance commuting, which might lead to the exacerbation of housing pressures in rural areas".

He added that a central feature of Salisbury's transport plan was to "reduce and manage the level of city centre car parking in order to lower traffic levels and congestion".

Mrs Mackay has since written to Salisbury MP Robert Key, saying the society was "astonished" and "enraged" at Mr Tilley's comments.

Dennis Brown, vice-chairman of the Salisbury joint transportation committee, has argued that land on either side of the bridge could be used for additional parking, but both sites pose difficulties.

He said SDC had approached Network Rail about the possibility of relocating contractors based on land to the western side of the bridge but was still waiting for a response.

He added that land to the eastern side had planning permission for housing and the remaining section was originally proposed by Network Rail as a rail/freight transfer facility and additional parking.

"Furthermore, as rail is a sustainable method of travel, provision of adequate station parking for rail commuters is surely to be encouraged," he said.

A spokesperson for South West Trains said: "There is light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully, before long, we shall have more positive news about timescales.

"Salisbury, in common with a lot of our other stations, gets full up pretty quickly, and we are looking at opening up additional parking."