A CAR park with a potential 25 spaces for residents in the centre of Haverfordwest will not be reopened despite requests from local county councillor, Tom Tudor.

Cllr Tudor submitted a notice of motion (NOM) to full council requesting that the 25 space car park immediately adjacent to Foley House be opened to residents under a permit scheme.

"Previously this car park was open for local residents to park their vehicles. Pembrokeshire County Council closed the car park at the time when Foley House was advertised for sale in 2003," he said.

"To date Foley House has not been purchased, as such I call on Pembrokeshire County Council to re-open the car park and allow the local residents of Goat Street, Hermon's Hill and Hill Lane to utilise the car park operating the Council's residents parking permit policy."

The unused car park next to Foley House was developed in 2011. The 43-space car park was designed to be used by business premises on the left hand side of Haverfordwest High Street in order to bring their upper floors into beneficial use.

The facility had cost a total of £858,381 to construct, including £230,688 from Heritage Lottery Fund, £191,167 from WAG, £100,000 from Cadw as well as £336,526 from the council.

Cabinet had already quashed the NOM saying that the source of the problem, the marketing of Foley House, needed to be addressed and that opening the car park would not help with the sale of the property.

Deputy leader, Keith Lewis, told council that re-opening the car park would come at a cost:

"It is not simply a matter of opening the gates," he argued. "This would involve the authority in some expenditure to make the area suitable for parking."

He added that foliage would need to be cleared and spaces marked out and some sort of barrier would have to be erected to stop people parking in the lower car park at Foley House.

Cllr Tudor said he believed that the car park would "be quite easily achieved without too much cost involved".

The majority of councillors voted against Cllr Tudor's NOM, meaning that the car park will not be reopened to residents.