CONCERNS over the future of the Vision for Trowbridge project intensified as strict new guidelines governing the sale of an ageing multi-storey car park were released.

West Wiltshire District Council, one of the leading players in the Vision concept, will no longer consider handing over the 440-space St Stephen's Place car park, unless a developer provides the same number of free car parking spaces in return.

In a report delivered to the council's internal overview committee on Wednesday, senior council officials also ruled out any part of the park being transferred for development.

Many believe the new stance has thrown a spanner in the works before the scheme has even got off the ground.

Nigel Tuersley, director of Wiltshire-based St Stephen's Place Ltd, which owns the Peter Black site, the old Tesco site and Castle Place precinct, believes the renewed stance could be "tragic" for the future of the county town.

He said imposing strict conditions on the sale of parkland and creating hurdles on the car park transfer could hamper the project's "pice de resistance".

"The area is crucial to the redevelopment of Trow-bridge," he said.

"If you prevent that either by imposing difficult conditions on the car park or by saying there is no change to the park boundary, you prevent the comprehensive redevelopment and fall back to a much lower level of redevelopment.

"That would be tragic. It would lower the development horizon for the whole town.

"To arbitrarily set down conditions now is very unhelpful. It will become impossible for any developer to redevelop the area."

West Wiltshire District Council deputy leader Graham Payne said free car-parking spaces were a condition of a 1970's covenant.

"For a lot of people in Trowbridge that was a quid pro quo for taking the public owned market yard away from them," he said.

"As for the Trowbridge park it is already a small enough piece of land. We don't believe we should give up any part of it at all.

"It is not putting a blocker on the Vision. It is important for people to realise there are historic reasons these things have come into being."

One source said the Vision was turning into "transparent political mileage" with politicians concentrating on point scoring instead of the transformation of Trowbridge.

District council chief executive Jeffrey Ligo said he believed the council's cabinet were still committed to the project and keen to work with landowners.

Trowbridge town, district and county councillor Jeff Osborn said he saw the latest move as a death-knell for the Vision project.

Up to 1,500 people flocked to the unveiling of the Vision framework during the West Wilts Show.

The team of 20 consultants employed by the South West Regional Development Agency talked to scores of visitors about the Urban Design Framework draft during the bi-annual show.