COUNTY councillor Pat Rugg has urged her fellow councillors to think again and save some of the 59 on-street parking spaces scheduled to go as part of the refurbishment of Devizes Market Place.

Although she is the vice-chairman of the Devizes Town Centre joint member working party which voted unanimously to recommend the revamp to the town, district and county councils, Mrs Rugg remains extremely unhappy about the loss of parking spaces.

Bus stops and taxi ranks are being moved from in front of the Lloyds Bank side of the Market Place to elsewhere in the centre, with the resulting loss of on-street parking places.

Mrs Rugg told last week's meeting of the county council's environmental and transport committee: "Most people want it left alone. People living in the villages need to use a car and the thought of taking these spaces away seems to me to be absolutely ridiculous."

She added "There is a private and confidential paper coming around to the view that we have made a mistake on the parking issue, but this needs to be discussed at length between officers."

She has promised the committee that she would not reveal the contents of the report, part of a presentation by planning consultants Donaldson's.

She persuaded the committee to agree that officers should hold talks with Kennet District Council officers to review the situation.

Mrs Rugg, the county councillor for Devizes South and Bromham, said that, with the expansion of the town centre and the proposed heritage centre on Wharfside, there would be a much greater need for parking.

Devizes Chamber of Commerce will address the subject of parking in the town at its annual meeting in the Cheese Hall at the Town Hall next Thursday at 7pm.

They have invited representatives of Wiltshire County Council to address them and explain county's new parking strategy which could see motorists paying up to £5 a day to park in the town.

David Waring, from Wiltshire County Council, has agreed to address the meeting along with someone from Oscar Faber, the company which advised the council on its parking strategy.

Mark Boden, chief executive of Kennet District Council, has indicated he is also likely to attend.

Chamber chairman Maurice Came said: "Traders are very concerned about the loss of car parking spaces and this meeting will give us a chance to air those concerns."

There were also expected to be angry words at Tuesday's meeting of Kennet's environmental services committee when charges at the Station Road car park in Devizes are set to more than double.

Officers want to bring in across the board charges of 35p an hour at all the car parks in the district.

Currently Station Road is 15p an hour, compared with 30p at most other car parks. The daily charge is due to rise from 80p to £2.

A report from David Shearer, Kennet's technical services manager, said: "Due to poor pedestrian access to the Market Place, charges were kept lower to encourage the use of Station Road. Now that improvements have been completed, the hourly charge is to be increased to 35p in line with other town centre car parks."