Wiltshire Council has confirmed the next steps for the proposals St Stephen’s multi-storey car park following a discussion held at its Cabinet meeting on 7 October.

 At the meeting, the council’s Cabinet confirmed its intention to formally transfer the freehold of St Stephen’s multi-storey car park in Trowbridge to the owner of Castle Place Shopping Centre. The financial elements of the proposal, which are commercially confidential, will be discussed by Full Council at a future meeting. Previous to being presented at the Cabinet meeting, the proposal was discussed at the council’s Overview and Management Scrutiny Committee meeting on 24 September.

 Following the Cabinet meeting, the decision to transfer the freehold of the car park has been formally called in by 11 backbench councillors meaning it will be discussed at a further scrutiny meeting on 16 October at 10am.

Cllr Helen Belcher, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Regeneration and Assets: “We feel the reasoning and the context for the decision we have agreed has been clearly set out. We are, of course, happy to follow the democratic process, and this will provide another opportunity for us to explain the choices we were faced with, the legal and professional advice we have been given, and why we believe we are taking the right approach.

“The multi-storey car park site has been a source of much speculation and uncertainty for years, but we have provided clear direction, and we hope any future plans for the site can bring many long-term benefits to the town and its residents.”

St Stephen’s multi-storey car park closed temporarily this week for essential and extensive repairs that will see fabricated steel-back propping installed. This work was determined to be essential in order to keep the car park safe until the planned closure of the leisure centre in Castle Place. However, the car park is at the end of its useful design life and for the car park to have a long-term future even more repairs would be required, at significant expense to the taxpayer.

The repairs the council are currently undertaking have been recommended by a structural engineer and will ensure the car park can temporarily reopen and be used for the time being. It is due to reopen in January 2026. Castle Place Leisure Centre will remain open throughout the repairs. 

Before deciding to propose to transfer the car park freehold, the council considered all options, from doing nothing, permanently closing the car park, demolishing, and reconstructing the car park, as well as challenging the covenant.

However, none of those options were deemed to be financially viable. Should the formal transfer of the freehold happen, it will provide the potential for the site to be redeveloped by the private sector, complementing the nearby retail areas and improve town centre connectivity. 

In total there are more than 1,500 car parking spaces in Trowbridge. The current use at St Stephen’s multi-storey use can be accommodated within the existing car parking provision in Trowbridge. Trowbridge is the only town in Wiltshire that has a free public car park, due to the legal agreement between Wiltshire Council and the owner of St Stephen’s Place shopping centre, which has been in place since 1974. In all other public parking areas, town councils fund any free parking arrangements. However, to mitigate for the temporary loss of free parking, the council has made Court Street and Church Street car parks available without charge for the period of the repairs to the St Stephen’s multi-storey car park.

The free parking in these car parks is now available. Motorists can park all day if they wish and there is no need to display a ticket. These arrangements will be in place until 6 January 2026. Enforcement will still be carried out at the car parks to ensure people are parking correctly and not violating any other car park regulations.